By now, every adult should experience that identity theft is the quickest increasing crime in America. It has become an epidemic, leaving individuals at risk, including children, adults, the elderly, all those with solid credit, distressing credit, or no credit. And, to make matters worse, most people do not know if their identity has been stolen.
The biggest misconception is that identity theft simply affects or involves your credit. If you, too, consider that identity theft merely affects or involves your credit, then you may want to keep reading.
In addition to credit related identity theft, there are at least four other categories of identity theft that will not essentially impact your credit, but can ruin your living. The following are genuine life stories.
1. Character identity theft. Someone impersonates you and commits a crime within your name resulting in warrants issued in your name, arrests made, and time spent in jail.
Three years ago, Debra’s purse ended up being stolen by someone she knew. The identity thief bought a car with Debra’s ID and committed other crimes throughout Debra’s name (writing bad checks and burglary). Nobody in law enforcement believes Debra when she says Debra is not the criminal, not even the District Attorney who is charging her with the crimes.
George, a dude from San Francisco, traveled to Germany to see his relatives. On his way back home, he was stopped and told that there seems to be an arrest warrant issued in his name. Seemingly, someone had been committing crimes in his brand and using his Social Security number. George was arrested and taken to San Diego where he spent 10 days in jail. After finally convincing a police officee that he had not been the criminal, George was released and left stranded with no money.
Someone using a criminal record stole John’s wallet. Unbeknownst to John, the particular thief then committed several crimes in John’s identify. Unfortunately, this criminal activity was entered into the database of an background check company that provides data to possible employers. John lost his job and has been unable to find work due to the false information.
Charlene has been impersonated by her sister for quit some time. Unfortunately for Charlene, her sister has an extensive criminal record. In order to clear her name, Charlene has needed to hire an attorney. She has been told that once your name is associated with a crime, it can never come off.
2. Social Security Number (SSN) identity fraud. Someone steals your SSN and obtains employment in your name. The thief’s employer reports wages earned to the IRS under your SSN leaving you to spend income taxes on these earnings. Further, an identity thief’s use of your SSN can mean you can lose life sustaining benefits.
Jeffrey lost his wallet, and he never bothered to report it on the police. In 2005, he filed his tax come back and expected a refund. Instead, he received almost nothing. The IRS withheld his refund check to rewarded back taxes he owed from 1999. Apparently around 1999, someone had used Jeffrey’s SSN to gain wages in Jeffrey’s name. This “unreported income” left Jeffrey that has a $7000 tax bill.
Daryl received a letter through the IRS stating that he had earned additional revenue in 2001. Daryl never earned this additional salary. An identity thief used Daryl’s SSN and received wages in Daryl’s name. Now Daryl’s credit is definitely ruined, and the IRS wants to be given.
Dan applied for unemployment benefits, but your dog was denied because records showed that he was actually working. Apparently, someone in another city were being using his SSN to earn wages in his name. Dan was told that he had to prove that his identity were stolen.
Someone had been using Jill’s SSN to be able to earn wages. Jill, who had been receiving AFDC (Aid Families with Dependent Children) benefits, lost her benefits because income records show her as creating a salary.
3. Driver’s license identity theft. Someone commits traffic related offenses with your name. When the identity thief fails to surface in court, warrants are issued in your title.
In 2005, Adam’s driver’s license was revoked because he have another driver’s license in another state revoked as a result of criminal charges. In addition, Adam had warrants out for his arrest inside the other state. After about a year of working to clear his name, Adams driver’s license was reinstated.
4. Medical identity theft. Someone steals your identity and either obtains health care insurance in your name or uses your current health care insurance policy to obtain treatment or prescriptions. You may be denied health coverage or lose your current health coverage as a consequence of false information placed in your medical record.
An identity thief using a poor driving record obtained a copy of Thelma’s driver’s permit. Now, because of the identity thief’s poor operating record, Thelma’s license has been suspended, and she is in danger of losing her auto insurance.
An identity thief received treatment for a trauma to his foot using a stolen identity. Currently, the identity theft victim has been receiving characters demanding payment for drugs and services rendered into the thief.
5. Credit ratings identity theft. Someone uses your information to obtain loans, goods, or services and does not pay the bills. The accumulating unpaid bills end up gonna collection, which can affect your credit.
For above five years, Darla has been a victim of identity theft. Even a fraud alert placed on her credit score has not stopped the identity thief. As an effect, Darla can not purchase a home because associated with bad credit.
An identity thief wrote bad checks and opened several mastercard accounts in Sally’s name. Consequently, Sally’s application to open her own banking accounts was denied. Sally has had to hire a attorney to clear her name. This has charge her over $7,500.
You can observe that once an identity thief has your identity, he/she can do just about anything including ruining your life. Don’t think you are usually immune. According to the Identity Theft Resource Middle, there have been at least 111 disclosed incidents of data breaches since January 2005 that may potentially expose 53 million individuals to identity thieves. This number is steadily increasing. Further, according towards FTC, over 27, 000 people per day have their identities stolen in the united states.
Your information is not safe. As long seeing that others (employers, credit card companies, medical facilities, and so forth. ) have your private information, you are always at risk for identity theft. All it takes is for an employer to lose your information or give it away or one person/employee to steal the knowledge. A cellular phone company experienced just that when employees used customer data to set-up fraudulent accounts. The bogus accounts were used by the thieves and their friends to ring up a large amount in calls.
When it comes to protecting your identity, being proactive is the only practical strategy to use to avoid the frustration, time, and expense involving restoring your identity and name. Some things that can be done to prevent identity theft include not giving out your personal information, shredding unwanted mail, and not carrying your SSN card to you. Also, continuous credit monitoring is an easy, effective and often inexpensive way of keeping an eye on your credit continually to help prevent credit related identity theft.
Moreover, according to the Federal Trafe Commission, over 27,000 men and women per day have their identities stolen in America.
Your info is not harmless. As long as others (employers, credit card companies, medical facilities, etc.) have your private information, you are forever at risk for identity theft. All it takes is for an employer to drop off your data or throw it aside or one someone/employee to steal the info. A cellular phone company experienced just that when employees in use customer data to produce fraudulent accounts. The bogus accounts have been used by the thieves and their buddies to ring up thousands of dollars in calls.
At first from Romania, Anghel Delato is a nurse in Brooklyn, where she had her identity stolen. She learned identity theft laws and approaches to prevent identity theft. Get more infromation in relation to identity theft and tips on how to prevent it at http: //www. identityguardreview. net/.
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