Identity theft is stealing another person’s identity. It is committed when a person pretends to be someone else and commits a crime under the name of the other person whose identity is stolen. The person whose identity is stolen suffers the consequences of the crime.
Identity theft is one of the fast rising crimes today. This is especially common on the internet. There are ingenuous hackers who can steal your identity by hacking into various accounts and gaining access to your personal information. The effect of this crime can be devastating and take years to put right.
If you suffer from such a crime, you will have to endure a lot of emotionally as well as financial difficulty in this situation. You will not only go through tough financial losses but emotional losses as well. And it might take you years and years to regain your identity and reputation once a crime is committed by a criminal who has assumed your identity.
Types of identity theft
- Criminal identity theft
- Financial identity theft
- Identity cloning
- Medical identity theft
- Child identity theft
These days, many people dread identity theft. This feeling can lead you to find the best ways to keep the criminals away.
Tips to prevent identity theft
Here are a few tips that can help you prevent identity theft from happening to you:
Keep your information private and secure
You should always keep information about yourself private and well secured. Do not divulge any sensitive and personal information over the phone or internet. With the development in technology, it is very easy to tap your phone lines and internet lines such that personal information passed through this medium can be easily hacked.
Shred your documents
Do not just throw your documents in the garbage. There are people who try to find information via discarded credit card statements and utility bills. The information in these statements contains vital information that will help an intruder succeed in stealing your identity. Thus, burn or shred these documents.
Secure your credit cards and debit cards
It is very frequent that information on credit cards can be stolen when your card is used for a transaction. You have to be watchful when you use your card to pay for your purchases. Look at the actions of the person swapping your cards closely and make sure there is no wrong doing involved in the process.
The repercussion of a stolen identity can be very serious. It is important for you to be very vigilant about your personal information.