Identity theft is refer to as the theft of personal information to commit illegal acts. Identity theft refers to as a profitable business for online criminals. It is so profitable, that every day, around thousands of people in United States, and throughout the world, are victimized by identity theft. It is actually not a difficult task to steal the identity of someone. You might be informed about spam emails that usually ask for your name, address, phone number, bank account details etc. These emails are a technique used by the online criminals to steal your personal information and then use it for their illegal acts.
The main question is that how does identity theft happen? It is an easy question to answer as the online criminals have many ways to steal your identity. Identity means everything related to you. This includes your personal information, you credit card and other financial account information and even your phone number, address and work place address.
Everyone these days has an online presence in any one of the social networks on the internet. Be it twitter, Facebook or any other social network, you are there online and have mentioned your personal information. If you even Google your name, you will find your name and the information related to you that is public. The online criminals make use of this information to steal your identity.
You should be aware of the fact that whenever you fill online forms or applications, or enter your passwords, PINs or login information, the identity thieves can easily get a hold of this information via key log tracking tools. This tool allows a third party person to see what you are entering into the fields and can easily take that information.
Once the thief gets access to your name, phone number and address, they can easily start their search for other information related to like your license number, bank information, social security number and other information related to you. When all the information has been collected, they can easily fill out online applications like buying home or buying car applications on your behalf. They can even do online shopping by adding your personal information and credit card number.
As it is very easy for the online criminals to get access to your personal information, you shall never enter any personal information regarding yourself on unsecured sites or unsecured internet connections like public WIFI. A site that is secured has a little lock on the left top corner or has a URL that starts with https://. The “s” in the URL indicates that it is a secured site and entering any personal information on this site is of no issues.
There are also some facts about identity theft that you need to know:
- Nearly half of the identity theft victims do not get to know until three months that someone has stolen their personal information.
- Around 15% of the identity theft victims do not get to know until 4 years or more that their personal information has been stolen.
- Average 30 times a social security number that is stolen is ued to get employment.
- Resolving a identity theft can take years and years to solve.
Identity theft occurs in all parts of the world and many people suffer with this theft. Many people are being victim of this theft every day and are suffering with credit losses or are being arrested because of crime committed by online criminals.