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| WHAT IS IDENTITY THEFT - ARTICLE |
| Tracy Internet Advertising |
| Tracy Internet Advertising |
| Online Free Advertising For Everyone, Anywhere |
| What Is Identity Theft |
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| Established 2005 |
A girl who claimed to be Jessica Simpson’s personal assistant and securing thousands of dollars of items she used for
herself. Identity theft is a crime that occurs – usually without attaching a face to a name – until the criminal is caught.
Identity theft occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other
crimes. A con artist appropriates another’s name, address, Social Security number or other identifying information and
uses that information to open new credit card accounts, take over existing accounts, obtain loans in the victim’s name or
steal funds from the victim’s checking, savings, or investment accounts.
"Identity theft" is technically defined as the use, transfer or theft of personal identifying information for the purpose of
committing a crime. Federal law prevents identity theft victims from being held liable for bills incurred by imposters.
Consumers, however, can spend months, and even years, in repairing the damage to their good credit. Businesses are
affected greatly as well by this crime. They have given out goods and services with illegally obtained credit cards. With
credit protection, as long as the victim can prove they didn’t make the purchases, these businesses must write off the bill
without recovering the merchandise.
A similar crime is identity fraud. A variety of abuses of the bankruptcy system, including the concealment of assets in
bankruptcy, the making of false sworn financial statements in bankruptcy proceedings, and the filing of bankruptcies
under false social security numbers are often dubbed "identity fraud" by prosecutors and government regulators.
Cons attempt to obtain the benefits of bankruptcy such as relief from debt collection, while attempting to escape negative
credit consequences. In one case they leased a residence and obtained credit with the name and social security number
of an unsuspecting victim then they occupied the residence, ran up the credit cards, and then filed for bankruptcy in the
victim’s name. One bankruptcy petition was filed in the name of a recently deceased father. Such fraudulent bankruptcy
filings often wreak havoc on innocent people who must spend substantial resources to clear their credits and their names.
The rampant theft and abuse of other people’s credit histories and social security numbers has become one of the
biggest problems of consumer bankruptcy fraud.
Both crimes have become rampant affecting millions and millions of people in the United States alone. You may think you’
re protected, but you may be surprised exactly how these criminals get your personal information.
HOW THEY GET YOUR INFORMATION ?
A lost or stolen wallet is just one way for a thief to get your information. They can fraudulently access your credit report
by posing as an employer, loan officer, or landlord. Internet records that are unprotected is another source.Some will go
dumpster diving looking for bills or other papers with your personal information on it. Many people receive daily offers for
credit cards. If you’re not interested, you just throw it away. Thieves love finding these! The problem of criminals
rummaging through bins for such documents is well known and there have been reports of organized gangs paying
people to pick through landfill sites for such documents. A change of address form can be used to divert billing
statements to another location. This will give them access to your credit card numbers.
Shoulder surfing is done at the ATM machine and phone booths. This means the criminal will stand behind you as you
enter in your PIN number or phone information. Police have already arrested several individuals copying cards using the
cash machines themselves. A small electronic camera is mounted above the keypad of the cash machine and a card
reader, often only a few centimeters thick, goes over the card slot. At a busy machine hundreds of card numbers can be
collected in a few hours and turned into cloned cards. The wide availability of small card scanners has also made card
skimming a problem. In a matter of seconds your card's magnetic strip can be copied and a crooked employee of a
restaurant or retail outlet can copy many cards in a day.
By far the biggest problem with identity theft is 'social engineering': this means someone obtaining information by
deception, and usually involves some form of incentive or plain old-fashioned flattery. A veneer of officialdom also oils the
wheels and it's a surprisingly effective technique. Several recent experiments have shown that nine in 10 people would
give up computer passwords in exchange for a small gift like a chocolate bar when questioned by someone holding a
clipboard. All too frequently people give out sensitive information over the telephone when they have no proof that the
person at the other end is who they say they are. While identity theft committed in this manner still accounts for the
majority of fraud, security experts are warning that such attacks are increasingly being abandoned in favor of electronic
methods. One of the most dangerous methods of identity theft used online is key logging, which bypasses documents
altogether. Here a piece of software records every keystroke made on the computer, including all of your log-in details.
Such software is generally spread by viruses or as attachments in spam. Email in particular allows personal contact with
millions of people at the push of a button and fraudsters have taken advantage of this. It has also allowed for the
merging of old and new types of identify theft to create potentially devastating crimes such as phishing. This is another
old con in modern form and involves setting up a plausible looking website that claims to be an online business. It's a
cheaper, more anonymous variant of fly-by-night operators setting up stalls in abandoned shops. Visitors are encouraged
to input personal information, usually after receiving an email requesting they confirm log- in details or check the status of
an order. Such emails are sent out to millions of addresses and usually contain warnings that action must be taken
immediately in order to frighten the recipient into acting without thinking. This is an especially scary way of obtaining your
information since most of these e-mails are very, very real looking. The non-educated consumer can easily be taken in by
simply clicking on a link and entering in a password. This is especially common for people who have Pay Pal accounts or
who sell at online auction sites like eBay.
Web monitoring and hosting companies work hard to shut these websites down within days but they can harvest
thousands of account details in that time. Online banks in particular have been targeted but so too have eBay and
PayPal. An even more advanced, and harder to detect, form of this con has come to light recently nicknamed pharming.
This involves criminals using computer security holes to reprogram computers that allocate the addresses for all web
pages so even if you key in the correct web address, your web browser may be directed to a bogus site. Such attacks are
technically possible although none have been confirmed as yet.
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE A VICTIM ?
Unfortunately, the most common way people find out they are victims of identity theft is when the damage is already done.
One victim tells the account of how she found out her information had been stolen. She writes: “I had been thinking
about buying a cellular phone but someone beat me to the punch. This person set up an account using his name and
paid two bills using my Visa/debit card number. I'm not sure how he got the number since there's only one card. I've heard
a lot of theories in the last few days. Nextel allowed this man to set up the account using my card and never verified the
information. Had they checked him out, they might have found that the owner of the Visa/debit card was a woman, and not
the man starting a cellular phone account. I don't even have a cell phone! The guy took more than half my paycheck,
leaving me home all weekend with very little money. Luckily, rent wasn't due.”
Yet another victim writes:
“On Xxxx xx,2000 - my birthday - my wallet was taken at the checkout counter at (a grocery store). Security cameras
showed the checker taking my wallet, and charging nearly $500 of groceries after I left the store. Despite my calling the
police, no charges were filed against the individual because he did not "steal" the wallet from my person. Hmmm think
about that one? The wallet -containing my recently renewed Drivers License, MasterCard, ATM Card, parking card,
business cards (with cellular and home numbers), and college ID card (with social security number on it) - was never
recovered. The head of store security and the police detective told me the that wallet was probably thrown away.”
And a third account of identity theft reads:
“On September 19, I first became aware that my identity had been stolen. I received a bill from (a department store) - for
$675.55 of electronic purchases I did not make. I notified (them), and put fraud alerts at the three credit reporting
agencies, and ordered copies of my credit reports. I was dumbfounded by what I discovered: over $7,000 of charges on
seven credit cards, with attempts to open 6 more. Starting on September 9th, most accounts had been opened on the
Internet. Despite the fraud alert, accounts are still being opened. An account was opened at (a furniture store) on
September 22nd. The suspect presented my driver's license - and, despite the fraud alert, the miswriting of my social
security number, and obvious differences in the signature - was granted instant credit. Subsequently, nearly $3000 in
charges were made, in 6 separate instances, over a four-day period.” By the time these people discovered their identity
had been stolen, their credit had already been jeopardized and perhaps even ruined. They would have to embark on the
unfortunate and long journey of proving their innocence.
One thing you can do is to monitor your credit reports faithfully. You should also be aware when bills do not arrive as
expected or you receive statements for credit cards that you do not have. You may be denied credit for a large purchase
and not be given an immediate reason why. This is a HUGE warning sign that your identity may have been compromised –
especially if you’ve always had an excellent credit score. Finally, if you are receiving phone calls or correspondence from
credit reporting agencies or collection departments, you need to look at your credit more closely to see if your information
has been breached. These are all warning signs that you should not ignore – under any circumstances!
So what do you do if you think you’re a victim of identity theft? The first thing you’ll need to do is gather important
documents and be able to prove your identity. You might think this would be the easiest part of combating identity theft,
but it really isn’t. Think about it. The thief was allowed to pose as you, how do the companies know that you’re not also
just trying to impersonate someone else? An excellent book to read on this subject we would highly recommend is shown
below called "Protecting yourself from Identity theft". It contains information we all need to know to protect ourselves.
This Article was written by the author of the book shown below :
Sole permission was given to Tracy Internet Advertising to display it.
herself. Identity theft is a crime that occurs – usually without attaching a face to a name – until the criminal is caught.
Identity theft occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other
crimes. A con artist appropriates another’s name, address, Social Security number or other identifying information and
uses that information to open new credit card accounts, take over existing accounts, obtain loans in the victim’s name or
steal funds from the victim’s checking, savings, or investment accounts.
"Identity theft" is technically defined as the use, transfer or theft of personal identifying information for the purpose of
committing a crime. Federal law prevents identity theft victims from being held liable for bills incurred by imposters.
Consumers, however, can spend months, and even years, in repairing the damage to their good credit. Businesses are
affected greatly as well by this crime. They have given out goods and services with illegally obtained credit cards. With
credit protection, as long as the victim can prove they didn’t make the purchases, these businesses must write off the bill
without recovering the merchandise.
A similar crime is identity fraud. A variety of abuses of the bankruptcy system, including the concealment of assets in
bankruptcy, the making of false sworn financial statements in bankruptcy proceedings, and the filing of bankruptcies
under false social security numbers are often dubbed "identity fraud" by prosecutors and government regulators.
Cons attempt to obtain the benefits of bankruptcy such as relief from debt collection, while attempting to escape negative
credit consequences. In one case they leased a residence and obtained credit with the name and social security number
of an unsuspecting victim then they occupied the residence, ran up the credit cards, and then filed for bankruptcy in the
victim’s name. One bankruptcy petition was filed in the name of a recently deceased father. Such fraudulent bankruptcy
filings often wreak havoc on innocent people who must spend substantial resources to clear their credits and their names.
The rampant theft and abuse of other people’s credit histories and social security numbers has become one of the
biggest problems of consumer bankruptcy fraud.
Both crimes have become rampant affecting millions and millions of people in the United States alone. You may think you’
re protected, but you may be surprised exactly how these criminals get your personal information.
HOW THEY GET YOUR INFORMATION ?
A lost or stolen wallet is just one way for a thief to get your information. They can fraudulently access your credit report
by posing as an employer, loan officer, or landlord. Internet records that are unprotected is another source.Some will go
dumpster diving looking for bills or other papers with your personal information on it. Many people receive daily offers for
credit cards. If you’re not interested, you just throw it away. Thieves love finding these! The problem of criminals
rummaging through bins for such documents is well known and there have been reports of organized gangs paying
people to pick through landfill sites for such documents. A change of address form can be used to divert billing
statements to another location. This will give them access to your credit card numbers.
Shoulder surfing is done at the ATM machine and phone booths. This means the criminal will stand behind you as you
enter in your PIN number or phone information. Police have already arrested several individuals copying cards using the
cash machines themselves. A small electronic camera is mounted above the keypad of the cash machine and a card
reader, often only a few centimeters thick, goes over the card slot. At a busy machine hundreds of card numbers can be
collected in a few hours and turned into cloned cards. The wide availability of small card scanners has also made card
skimming a problem. In a matter of seconds your card's magnetic strip can be copied and a crooked employee of a
restaurant or retail outlet can copy many cards in a day.
By far the biggest problem with identity theft is 'social engineering': this means someone obtaining information by
deception, and usually involves some form of incentive or plain old-fashioned flattery. A veneer of officialdom also oils the
wheels and it's a surprisingly effective technique. Several recent experiments have shown that nine in 10 people would
give up computer passwords in exchange for a small gift like a chocolate bar when questioned by someone holding a
clipboard. All too frequently people give out sensitive information over the telephone when they have no proof that the
person at the other end is who they say they are. While identity theft committed in this manner still accounts for the
majority of fraud, security experts are warning that such attacks are increasingly being abandoned in favor of electronic
methods. One of the most dangerous methods of identity theft used online is key logging, which bypasses documents
altogether. Here a piece of software records every keystroke made on the computer, including all of your log-in details.
Such software is generally spread by viruses or as attachments in spam. Email in particular allows personal contact with
millions of people at the push of a button and fraudsters have taken advantage of this. It has also allowed for the
merging of old and new types of identify theft to create potentially devastating crimes such as phishing. This is another
old con in modern form and involves setting up a plausible looking website that claims to be an online business. It's a
cheaper, more anonymous variant of fly-by-night operators setting up stalls in abandoned shops. Visitors are encouraged
to input personal information, usually after receiving an email requesting they confirm log- in details or check the status of
an order. Such emails are sent out to millions of addresses and usually contain warnings that action must be taken
immediately in order to frighten the recipient into acting without thinking. This is an especially scary way of obtaining your
information since most of these e-mails are very, very real looking. The non-educated consumer can easily be taken in by
simply clicking on a link and entering in a password. This is especially common for people who have Pay Pal accounts or
who sell at online auction sites like eBay.
Web monitoring and hosting companies work hard to shut these websites down within days but they can harvest
thousands of account details in that time. Online banks in particular have been targeted but so too have eBay and
PayPal. An even more advanced, and harder to detect, form of this con has come to light recently nicknamed pharming.
This involves criminals using computer security holes to reprogram computers that allocate the addresses for all web
pages so even if you key in the correct web address, your web browser may be directed to a bogus site. Such attacks are
technically possible although none have been confirmed as yet.
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE A VICTIM ?
Unfortunately, the most common way people find out they are victims of identity theft is when the damage is already done.
One victim tells the account of how she found out her information had been stolen. She writes: “I had been thinking
about buying a cellular phone but someone beat me to the punch. This person set up an account using his name and
paid two bills using my Visa/debit card number. I'm not sure how he got the number since there's only one card. I've heard
a lot of theories in the last few days. Nextel allowed this man to set up the account using my card and never verified the
information. Had they checked him out, they might have found that the owner of the Visa/debit card was a woman, and not
the man starting a cellular phone account. I don't even have a cell phone! The guy took more than half my paycheck,
leaving me home all weekend with very little money. Luckily, rent wasn't due.”
Yet another victim writes:
“On Xxxx xx,2000 - my birthday - my wallet was taken at the checkout counter at (a grocery store). Security cameras
showed the checker taking my wallet, and charging nearly $500 of groceries after I left the store. Despite my calling the
police, no charges were filed against the individual because he did not "steal" the wallet from my person. Hmmm think
about that one? The wallet -containing my recently renewed Drivers License, MasterCard, ATM Card, parking card,
business cards (with cellular and home numbers), and college ID card (with social security number on it) - was never
recovered. The head of store security and the police detective told me the that wallet was probably thrown away.”
And a third account of identity theft reads:
“On September 19, I first became aware that my identity had been stolen. I received a bill from (a department store) - for
$675.55 of electronic purchases I did not make. I notified (them), and put fraud alerts at the three credit reporting
agencies, and ordered copies of my credit reports. I was dumbfounded by what I discovered: over $7,000 of charges on
seven credit cards, with attempts to open 6 more. Starting on September 9th, most accounts had been opened on the
Internet. Despite the fraud alert, accounts are still being opened. An account was opened at (a furniture store) on
September 22nd. The suspect presented my driver's license - and, despite the fraud alert, the miswriting of my social
security number, and obvious differences in the signature - was granted instant credit. Subsequently, nearly $3000 in
charges were made, in 6 separate instances, over a four-day period.” By the time these people discovered their identity
had been stolen, their credit had already been jeopardized and perhaps even ruined. They would have to embark on the
unfortunate and long journey of proving their innocence.
One thing you can do is to monitor your credit reports faithfully. You should also be aware when bills do not arrive as
expected or you receive statements for credit cards that you do not have. You may be denied credit for a large purchase
and not be given an immediate reason why. This is a HUGE warning sign that your identity may have been compromised –
especially if you’ve always had an excellent credit score. Finally, if you are receiving phone calls or correspondence from
credit reporting agencies or collection departments, you need to look at your credit more closely to see if your information
has been breached. These are all warning signs that you should not ignore – under any circumstances!
So what do you do if you think you’re a victim of identity theft? The first thing you’ll need to do is gather important
documents and be able to prove your identity. You might think this would be the easiest part of combating identity theft,
but it really isn’t. Think about it. The thief was allowed to pose as you, how do the companies know that you’re not also
just trying to impersonate someone else? An excellent book to read on this subject we would highly recommend is shown
below called "Protecting yourself from Identity theft". It contains information we all need to know to protect ourselves.
This Article was written by the author of the book shown below :
Sole permission was given to Tracy Internet Advertising to display it.
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