Identity Theft: Are You a Victim?

by Jon Arnold

In today's world, the crime of identity theft is growing astronomically and in fact it reported to be one of the fastest growing crimes of this decade. The biggest reason for this seems to be that most people do not understand what identity theft is, or as is the case with many other crimes, simply refuse to believe that it could ever happen to them. But the reality of the situation is that if you are not taking many more precautions with your personal information, you are leaving yourself wide open as an easy target, and it might just be YOU featured as the latest identity theft victim on a future report on the 6 o'clock news.

Most identity theft victims are totally unaware that the crime has been committed until long after severe damage has already been done to their name and their credit history and credit score. If you were a victim of identity theft, would you know about it before it was too late? Would you know in time to provide the authorities with a chance to catch the criminals? For most people by the time they find out about the crime, the theft is weeks and even months old, and any clues that the authorities may have to find the thief have long since grown ice cold.

One of the most common methods used by identity thieves when they have access to another person's personal information is to open new credit cards accounts or even apply for a loan. Keep in mind in today's very competitive credit card and lending market, a minimum amount of information is required to open such accounts. A person only needs your name, address, date of birth and social security number to open an account. Is that scary to you? If not, it should be!

If you ever get a letter or phone call stating that you have been approved for a new credit card or loan, you should call them back immediately and inquire about it if this is not a line of credit that you yourself applied for. Now keep in mind this is vastly different from the pre-approved credit card offers you get in the mail all the time, and it is also very different from the spam emails you get saying you have been approved for a loan or a lower mortgage amount. Lenders will almost NEVER contact you that way, and you should NEVER click a link in an email like that because that email almost certainly is a scam.

If you find out one day that you have stopped receiving bills or bank statements or credit card statements in the mail, this could be yet another indication that you are the victim of identity theft. Very often in the case of identity theft, the criminal will change the address of the person whose identity he is stealing so that they don't realize that someone is using their information with a new credit card until it is too late.

One very obvious indication that there is a problem is when you see charges on your existing credit card statements for purchases you did not make. Review your credit card and debit card statements carefully to make sure all the charges there are valid and made by you. Your best option in terms of catching the criminal before more damage is done is to catch them as early as possible, and your vigilance is needed to do that.

About the Author
For more insights and additional information about not becoming an Identity Theft Victim please visit our web site at http://www.idtheftprotectiontips.com