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Identity Theft - Scams to Steal Your Personal Information

Give me convenience or give me death! With our increased reliance on the convenience of the web and plastic over cash, we have opened a pandora's box in crime. In this case, Pandora is called identity theft.

The phrase identity theft generally means what it sounds like. It is the theft of a person's identity by another for some profitable purpose. That being said, identity theft actually comes in a number of different forms.

Mention identity theft and most people think of stolen credit cards. This occurs, but is actually the end result of the theft. Credit card accounts are not the target of most criminals, social security numbers are.

With a social security number, an identity thief can take many financial steps. They can open multiple credit card accounts. They even apply for a loan once they establish a second address.

Another area where social security numbers are being turned into criminal profits is fairly new. Many illegal immigrants are required to show valid social security numbers to hold jobs. Guess where those numbers are coming from.

The sale of social security numbers to people who need them to hold a job causes another massive problem for the victim. Taxes. The IRS receives a report of all earnings per social security number. If you under report, you will be contacted.

Once a theif is armed with your social security number, there are a lot of ways they can go. A classic approach is to open a bank account. Why is this a problem? They write bad checks against the account until the bank closes it and looks for you.

You gotta talk with your peeps! In the case of identity theft, there is little reason to pay for it. More and more victims of this crime are finding their information is being used to fraudulently obtain and run up mobile phone service bills.

As with any crime, identity theft is not something you want to experience. Unlike other crimes, you rarely realize you are a victim until things are really bad. Theives have bills sent to addresses other than yours, so you don't know it is occuring.

Is there any way to learn if you are a victim? For most people, it only happens when they try to charge something to a credit card and it gets rejected. For others, realization hits when access to their bank account is denied.

Trying to convince credit card companies, the IRS and so on that you are innocent is a test that would make Buddhist monks riot. Your best option is to take every step possible to avoid the problem.