New-Age Crime Wave: Identity Theft

Published : March 13, 2010 :: 17:03:01 [ 1,333 views ]

You may not know until you apply for new credit that you have been the victim of an identity theft It can strike any one, especially elderly people as they are vulnerable and easy to obtain personal information from.

Identity theft is a fast growing crime with scammers using information personal information to steal a person’s identity ruining a life time of positive credit references. This crime affects approximately 900,000 new victims every year with many not knowing they have become a victim until they try applying for a loan or credit. Identity theft is usually not discovered until an approximately fourteen months have passed after the crime.

Elderly people are not so aware of the potential dangers when giving out information and tend to take few precautions to protect themselves. It is dangerous to be totally unawares when it comes to your credit report, so it is an idea to ask for a report from all three national credit bureaus on a regular basis.

Opening a new credit card account, using the consumer’s personal information, calling the credit card’s issuer pretending to be the consumer in order to change the mailing details on the account, with the thief running up charges with a new a bank account using the stolen identity and writing bad cheques, are just some of the ways in which stolen Identities are put to use.

Advances in technology to protect consumers have unfortunately kept the thieves in business. It has become very easy for identity thieves to gain access to private information and ruin a consumer’s good credit history and credit standing.

When applying for your credit report you must provide details of your name, address, Social Security number and date of birth and details of your previous employer if you have moved within the last two years of applying.

Patty Brown

Comments

Janice Taylor-Gaines

said :

In David Scott’s words, everyone needs to be a mini-Security Officer in the modern organization today. I think Mr. Scott is right: Most individuals and organizations enjoy Security largely as a matter of luck. Anyone else here reading I.T. WARS? I had to read parts of this book as part of my employee orientation at a new job. The book talks about a whole new culture as being necessary – an eCulture – for a true understanding of security, being that most identity/data breaches are due to simple human errors. It has great chapters on security, as well as risk, content management, project management, acceptable use, various plans and policies, and so on. Just Google IT WARS – check out a couple links down and read the interview with the author David Scott at Boston’s Business Forum. (Full title is I.T. WARS: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium).

Email : janice33rpm@yahoo.com Date : 2010-03-14 23:42:27

oldjake

said :

astonished, you did not read about the immigration website that got hacked into by low level hacking and everybody's information stolen.

Email : oldjake@hotmail.com Date : 2010-03-14 23:02:36

Bob

said :

Fortunately identity theft is never a problem on our PDN forum.

Email : Bob@liar.com Date : 2010-03-14 11:08:50

astonished

said :

I always wonder what happens to all the info you give to Immigration when applying for a visa extension? You see stacks of documents on desks containing DOB's, bank account names and numbers, as well as balances, phone numbers and home addresses. Is it securely filed or properly disposed of? It's an opportunity for any thief, and I'm surprised there hasn't been any victims already, or possibly there has and they've not been made public.....

Email : foolednomore@icclearly.com Date : 2010-03-13 18:30:11

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