Avoiding Identity theft is not as simple as merely reading the security terms and conditions on websites and filling in a fake name. There are many different ways that your identity might be stolen and unfortunately, victims of identity theft are spread far and wide. Some have never even been near a computer. Although there are many different applications for a stolen identity, most are used to obtain credit, quick cash, goods or services. The rarer, but truly frightening applications range from literally stealing your name and social security number and “becoming you” all the way up to creating identities for illegal immigrants. In all cases the main reasons are getting money (either yours or what will eventually become debt that you will be held responsible for) and evading the law. Criminals will often assume existing people’s identities when being charged or arrested for criminal activities. Sometimes the poor owners of the names struggle for years afterwards to get their records cleared.

The facts are quite clear and the current rising statistics speak for themselves. Avoiding identity theft completely is simply not possible. At some point in your daily dealings you will need to fill in a form at a doctors’ office, open a bank account or complete a service agreement or contract. That’s not including the various amounts of loans, mortgages, credit cards and car finance contracts that most of us enter into. For legal reasons, these institutions require your information in order to identify you as the responsible party. Once your information enters their database, you no longer have control over its progress through the system or security. What makes total avoidance of identity theft and similar types of fraud even more unlikely are the various legal practices of selling information. When a company decides to sell its debt, it makes an agreement with a “collection company” who is willing to purchase your contract at say, 75c to the dollar. This means that the original company makes a bit of a loss, but doesn’t have to go through the hassle of trying to recoup the money from you. Now company number two has all your relevant information including name, social security number, contact details, physical address and annual salary. Legally speaking they only use this information to send you letters and make contact with you to try and make a profit on their purchase. The grey area comes when company two is finished with your information. Let’s say that you have finally paid them and completed your financial obligations. Do they erase you from their database? The sad thing is they don’t. Information like this is valuable and many companies, even legitimate ones seem reluctant to part with such a large amount of data including interesting titbits, like your annual salary. After all, this information can be extremely useful to a marketing company. Enter company number 3 who, once again, completely legitimately purchases the database from the collections agency. The information they have is only used for market research (i.e. how much do men between the ages of 35 and 45 make annually). They won’t erase your information either, they will sell it again, and so, your personal details will be passed from hand to hand until you get phone calls from telemarketers for newspaper subscriptions and insurance. It is important to remember that none of these practices are necessarily illegal. All of these companies have merely used your information in the interests of commerce. What is disturbing though is the fact that this information is archived on systems that may be more vulnerable to hacking than bank or government databases are. It is important to do your best to protect personally identifiable information in your own capacity. The real protection however, will come when legislation catches up with the size of the problem.

The prospect of a stolen identity is a daunting one. There are many shocking statistics out there and just as many real-life stories of people who have fallen victim to identity theft. For those of us who have been lucky enough not to have the experience, it might not be a bad idea to make sure we’re really in the clear. The reason for this is that many people may go several years without ever knowing that their credit records and reputations are being slowly destroyed by an unknown imposter.

There are several warning signs which should raise your suspicions on the subject. If you start receiving less mail, less regularly or strange mail addressed to you that you did not ask for (i.e. credit cards etc.) you should worry. Re-directing mail to an old address in order to make use of mail-order services or simply keep your bank statements away from you is a classic trick used by identity thieves. Similarly, if you stop receiving certain bills and statements completely it may be time to launch an investigation. Many people make use of credit monitoring services. These nifty companies provide a service that notifies you whenever there is activity on any of your accounts or changes of personal information. Remember that if criminals engaged in identity theft intend to make long term use of your name, they will need to lay certain groundwork. For example, they will need to change your official address to theirs. They are generally not stupid enough to make it a home address where they can be physically traced but they will almost certainly make use of a rented post box in order to receive ordered goods. Another thing to remember is that the criminal will need to obtain additional information about you in order to continue impersonating you successfully. If you get strange phone calls from people claiming to be from one of your banks and asking to “confirm personal information” DO NOT SUPPLY IT. Banks will never expect you to supply information randomly on the phone.

Even though the prospect of being an identity theft victim leaves one feeling helpless and out of control, there are many ways to regain that control. The criminal is in a constant state of stress and fear as he/she risks discovery every time they use your information. You on the other hand can spend time getting to know the exact bank charges and systems that will aid you in minimising the chance of long term victimization and immediately recognising questionable situations. A quick and easy way to get an overview of how much information you have lying around may be to Google your own name. It is absolutely surprising how many people have highly sensitive information posted on social networking or blogging websites.

The credit bureau also has a handy service known as “fraud alert”. If you suspect that your identity or finances have been tampered with, a fraud alert basically means that you will be contacted personally whenever a new account or credit request is made in your name.

Although few believe it will ever happen to them, rising identity theft statistics show that there are many people out there who have been victims.

Although legislation is taking a while to come to grips with the legal aspects of identity fraud, there are institutions and protocols for those who find themselves in the unfortunate position of having discovered the unpleasant fact.

1. Stop affected credit cards or service agreements immediately

All banks and similar financial institutions will have a hotline that you can phone to immediately stop your cards and any additional, related accounts that you suspect may have been targeted by the criminal. This is done first because it is something that can be done quickly over the telephone. It also minimises your financial loss by putting an immediate stop to it.

2. Notify credit monitoring agencies

Once again, this can be done quickly over the phone. A “fraud alert” can be put on your credit record. This is very important as your financial reputation may have been put in question. The agency will require a brief statement which can be added to at a later stage. The most important thing is to make contact and tell them what’s going on.

3. File a Police Report

Because there are some fraudsters who may abuse their own finances and then claim identity theft to try and get out of their obligations, some policemen may be sceptical. A police report is extremely important though and must coincide with the dates of your other notifications. To avoid frustration, take time off work and concentrate on getting it all done properly. It’s not fair, but since you are in the situation, get a cup of coffee, stand in the queue and go through the motions.

4. Create new PINS and Passwords

As soon as you are back home, go online and start changing every possible password and PIN code you can think of. This is particularly important if you are unclear of how the thief may have obtained your information. Update your PC security software.

5. Contact the Federal Trade Commission

Write an e-mail and then send the hard-copy to the Federal Trade Commission. This is important because, along with the police report, stopping of accounts and fraud alert, you are building a case that will be consistent and tractable. It will go a long way to repairing your damaged credit record.

6. Check Everything

Draw statements from every possible account and loan agreement and make sure that you have caught all of the relevant accounts affected. There may be an unfortunate few months where you will begin to discover additional loans, made by this person, but by then, you will have prepared yourself and gone through all of the necessary steps.

Identity theft is a well known phenomenon. It is impossible to avoid putting ourselves at risk though, as our identities are an integral part of what separates us from others. Without your unique name, social security number, address and additional bits of information that are exclusive to you, it is impossible to open a bank account, submit to contractual agreements or simply apply for a job. How then is it possible to continue the important processes of daily life but still engage in identity theft prevention?

There are certain practices that are obvious. Never give information over the phone or to a person without due cause or identification. Just because people say they are phoning from the bank or from a certain company, it unfortunately does not mean that they are telling the truth. Similarly, e-mails from banking institutions will never ask you to submit telling information. This is known as “phishing” and is one of the most common methods of online fraud around. Your banking website should have several pages of information on this particular phenomenon. As stated before, it is not really possible to completely protect your identity as you are not the only one with this information. Identity theft prevention should therefore be more clearly defined as identity theft protection. By following certain practices and making a habit of conservative data sharing, you can minimise the risk by making it more difficult for criminals to access your information.

Make sure that your business, personal and contractual dealings remain completely legal. When we begin blurring the lines between what is legally acceptable and what might be considered unethical or immoral, we also open ourselves to a world of ways to be victimised. When your personal or professional dealings are not on the level, you make yourself vulnerable. If you do ever discover that your identity has been used for some or other reason, it becomes difficult to report it. Identity theft does not end at financially fraudulent behaviour. A good identity is valuable to illegal immigrants and those engaging in acts of terrorism and espionage as well. There are many resources that will point you in the right direction of minimising the possibility of identity theft. Common sense also plays a role though. Never throw important information just like that out in the garbage. This includes credit card and utility bills and statements. When submitting information in a public setting, and you feel uncomfortable about those who may overhear you, be sure to write down the information rather than make it available for potential eavesdroppers. Never give more information than is necessary and never be afraid to ask for proper accreditation from companies or credentials from individuals. Trust your instincts and have a healthy respect for the value of your personal data. This includes your names, the names of your family, social security number, your residential or work address, telephone numbers, account numbers, bank or credit card numbers and financial balance information.

It is a great pity that we cannot trust strangers, but in a world of burgeoning crime, we should not completely mistrust everybody we meet. Merely politely ask them for the credentials you need in the interests of protecting yourself and your family.

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.