KNOWLEDGE CENTER
- History of Identity Theft
- A Look at identity Theft Statistics
- Credit Monitoring: Protecting Yourself Against Identity Theft
- Understanding Identity Theft: How an ID Thief Gets Your Information
- Phishing Scams: Understanding and Protecting yourself
- Identity Theft and Your Rights
- The Internet and Identity Theft: What You Must Need to Know
- Preventing Identity Theft: Protecting Personal Information
- Common Identity Theft Scams
- Suspicious Signs and Signals
- A Look at Credit Card Fraud: Identity Theft In the 21st Century
IDENTITY THEFT LINKS
History of Identity Theft
Because of the widespread growth of identity theft today, many people assume that the crime came about due to the Internet. The fact is, identity theft has been around for probably as long as there have been identities to steal.
In times past, when you wanted to steal someone's identity, the common practice was to kill that person and simply assume their identity. In times where photo IDs were not as prevalent, this practice was much easier to get away with.
Another common form of identity theft that has been around for many years involves the use of a phone to gain personal knowledge. One of these scams is to call a person on the phone and tell them that they won a prize. In order to receive their prize they would have to verify some personal information and then they ask you for that information. Once you give it to them over the phone, the caller hangs up and then they have information from you that they can use to commit crimes.
One of the most popular forms of identity theft is a practice known as dumpster diving. Dumpster diving is when an identity thief will go through your trash or the trash in a dumpster to try to find personal documents that contain delicate information about people such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or any other identifying information. This practice is still incredibly prevalent today and makes the need for shredding personal documents an incredibly important task for anyone who wants to protect their identity from identity thieves.
While the practice of identity theft didn't necessarily begin with the Internet, it has certainly helped the practice move along at a rapid pace. Today, identity theft has taken the number one spot for the most popular crime throughout the world. It seems that no one is immune to this harmful crime no matter what the age or financial status of the victim. Identity thieves have become more technically savvy and they work to learn new technologies as soon as they are made available to the public. They have become masters at sending phony e-mails to try to gain personal information to the unsuspecting folks who open them up. They also work to install spyware on your computer so that they can track your every move and record such instances when you enter in password and account information to protected sites as well as bank accounts you may check online. While these sites are incredibly hard to break into, the identity thieves have committed tremendous resources to work to obtain your information to steal you and your family's money.
While the crime of identity theft has been around for many years, now it seems that it is easier than ever for these identity thieves to track down your personal info to commit this horrible crime. It is important to learn from the past mistakes of other victims and work to keep private any information that you have that could lead to your financial role in if it were placed in the hands of these unscrupulous criminals.
