The number one and fastest growing crime in the United States is also the most under reported: identity theft. This is where criminals steal your personal information — bank accounts, passwords, social security numbers, etc. — and use them to make fraudulent purchases and open accounts and lines of credit. The definition is broad and applies to almost any credit-related activity that you do not authorize.
In 2013, the Federal Trade Commission gave the following statistics:
– 290,056 ID theft claims were filed out of a total of 2 million; that is roughly 14%
– estimates place claimed identity theft losses in the neighborhood of $1.6 billion
– ID theft is the 14th most reported crime in the United States; it kind of makes you wonder how many victims never bothered to file a report because of all of the paperwork and red tape involved, IF the criminal is ever caught … Which in most cases they are not
– the average reported loss was $2,294 per person
– over three-fourths of all fraud was perpetrated by email, phone, and on websites; this equates to over 84% of all ID theft activity
ID theft is a persistent crime that targets people of all ages. No one is immune from it. Plus, with scammers getting more and more crafty, almost anyone can be a target and they will not even know it. Criminals will present themselves as legitimate representatives of companies you deal with regularly or your own bank. Some have also been known to contact your family, friends, and neighbors in an effort to glean information about you.
Do not think that criminals will stop, because this crime is so lucrative. Add this determination to the fact that consumer information floods the market these days, and anyone with even a minor background in hacking can find out the scoop on you. Not only that, they can use it to your detriment very quickly.
A Dell SecureWorks issued a report that says thieves can now buy full dossiers on individuals for as little as $25 each. These dossiers include everything they need to know about you: your name, address, phone number, social security number, place of employment, and more. Amazingly, demand and an over-abundance of information we put on the web about ourselves has driven this price down a whopping 37% from 2012.
If you believe you are the victim of identity theft, here is what you can do:
– File a police report. This can be a pain if you live in a very rural area that views this and other cyber-crimes as a low priority. You’ll be lucky if they really follow up on it at all.
– File fraud alerts with the major credit reporting bureaus. While this does not accomplish much, it does let them know you are doing your own due diligence.
– File an ID theft affidavit with the FTC. This is only possible after you have contacted your local police and have a report number with them. This also requires that you provide them with as much information as the scammers already have on you.
The best way to avoid ID theft is to be extremely cautious about when and where you release your personal information, especially if you are using the internet. Nothing is 100% secure. Be proactive and do not become a victim.
There have been a lot of cases where credit cards have been cloned. It happened to a friend of mine. She never lost her credit card but she found out someone was using it online. She would have found out sooner if she had been alerted in some way (like the way Lifelock alerts their members). But instead, she found out when her card went over the limit and that was pretty embarrassing for her.
You are right about identity theft. We all should be concerned about it. We shouldn’t just release or post anything personal about ourselves. It’s time we are aware of the consequences before it’s too late.
I really wouldn’t know where and how to report identity theft. For example if it happened to me, I’d probably just go to the institution. Like if someone used my name to get credit, I’d go to the bank concerned. But if you think about it….what could the bank do? I don’t think they’ll even care. That’s exactly the reason why identity theft should concern us. Who can we really turn to to protect us? We would have to wait until it happens to us. There’s no institution or agency that can protect us. That’s why Lifelock works.
Identity theft is scary! I never realized that my personal info could mean so much to someone. Thanks for the article, I’ll be a lot careful now.