There are two schools of thinking that most people follow when it comes to identity theft. The first is the classic “it will never happen to me” mindset. Many people have heard the stories of victims of identity theft but don’t really feel that it is a threat to them personally. The other side of the coin is those who refuse to submit their details to anyone for any reason for fear that their identity will be stolen and used for nefarious purposes.
Both of these responses are exaggerated and extreme. The fact is that identity theft is one of the fastest growing types of crime worldwide. With the growth of online commerce, it is no longer even a case of somebody in your town, state or even country being the predator. Similarly, there are plenty of security companies, working day and night to develop impenetrable software to stave off the threat to most of us. When we think of identity theft we imagine credit card fraud or “phishing”. There are actually several ways to steal your identity and use it to criminal ends. The Identity Theft Resource Centre has pinpointed several prevalent forms of the crime.
Identity Cloning: This is quite a rare one and tends to feature in movie plots. It does happen though. Your identity is stolen (name, information etc.) and used by the thief to assume your identity in daily life. This is often done by criminals wishing to evade the law. When done in a different city or state, it may often take some time to even realise its happening.
Medical Identity Theft: Medical insurance can be quite expensive. When desperate or in need of certain medication, an identity thief may assume your details to make use of your medical benefits to get hospital care or prescription drugs.
Criminal Identity Theft: This is probably one of the most common to beat-cops, who probably see this every day. It is the term used by people who pretend to be somebody else when they are arrested.
Financial Identity Theft: This is the one form of identity theft that can happen to anyone from anywhere in the world, making it the fastest growing and hardest to track. Your financial identity, credit card numbers etc. are used to purchase items or services, obtain loans or forms of credit by the thief.
Commercial Identity Theft: This falls out of the realms of threatening a person’s identity but certainly targets small to medium businesses. The thief steals a company name and information to obtain credit, goods or services.
The reasons for identity theft are quite straight forward. The thief will assume an identity to get money, purchase something or evade the law by pretending to be somebody else. In a world where con artists, hackers and people with unsavoury intentions walk the streets and look just like the rest of us, it is important to adopt an attitude of caution when imparting personal information. At the same time, it’ll be hard to conduct business, open bank accounts and confirm your own identity if you are not willing to put your trust in larger, accredited institutions. They are usually a safe bet as the companies themselves and their staff are regularly audited by government institutions.
