Tips For Identity Theft Protection

The crime of identity theft is reaching epic proportions across the country, and in fact is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) records indicate that identity theft has been topping their list of consumer complaints for a few years already, accounting for more than 40% of all complaints filed with the FTC.

While identity theft is a crime, there is another fact that is sometimes overlooked which is a direct result of this crime, which is the financial loss. That loss is estimated to exceed $50 billion annually for a combination of consumers and businesses, which makes it one of the most costly crimes on record.

Identity theft is not limited to the simple act of using your credit card to make an online purchase. In fact, the Internet is frequently not even associated with this crime, despite what some doomsayers claim about online transactions. But it is surprising to note that as much as 70% of cases are an inside job for business cases, meaning that the thief is an employee of the business, perhaps even a business you shop at today.

Another surprising fact is that in almost 27% of reported cases of ID theft, the victim of the theft either knew the thief or were related to them in some way. Keep in mind that these are actual reported cases of identity theft, as opposed to a misunderstanding amongst relatives or family members, or in other words, was done in a malicious manner.

People today are far too free with giving out their personal information to whoever claims to need it, like even the clerk at the grocery store checkout. They do not need nor have any right to know your personal information, and if you give it to them, ask to see their written policy as to how that information will be used.

This is particularly true for your social security number, which is the key to the lock for virtually every piece of personal information about you. Do not carry your social security card in your purse or wallet, because if your purse or wallet gets stolen, you have also given away a critical piece of personal information.

If you spend any amount of time online at all, you have probably seen the spam emails that are allegedly from your bank or credit union, asking you to click a link to verify your personal information. Never ever click the link in those emails. Although the email may look official, complete with your bank's graphic logo, any 12 year old these days can create such an email, and if you give out your personal information at the site you are taken to, you have become a victim. A real bank or financial institution would never ask you to verify that information online. If in doubt, call your bank and ask what kind of information they need you to verify, where you will almost always find that they have NOT had a security breach and do not need you to verify anything.

Keep your eyes open and consider what information you are giving out and ask yourself if that person really needs that information about you. Your identity is your business, and the months of hassles you will endure if you are a victim of identity theft is not worth the risk.

Article Source: http://www.share.onlypunjab.com

Jay Anderson has written many articles about Identity Theft Protection and invites you to visit his web site to learn more about protecting yourself from identity theft at www.idtheftprotectiontips.com

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