The Costs Of Identity Fraud

There are several common ways identity fraud is carried out. Online identity theft, considered to be the most popular form of identify fraud, is only one. Another method has been nicknamed "dumpster diving," which involves stealing mail by rummaging through someone's garbage for identifying documents.

These often include discarded receipts and paid bills, which all have identifying information on them that thieves find useful. One method used to fight identity theft is quite simple and effective: Consumers can reduce the risk of becoming the victims of identity fraud by buying and using a paper shredder. That way, no information of potential importance leaves the house intact.

Have you ever received an email from some stranger overseas claiming that you have inherited millions of dollars but have to send them your account number so they can wire it to you? Have you ever gotten a message from your bank asking for information about you, but you know they already have all that information? If you can answer yes to either of these questions, you may have been singled out as a potential victim of online identity theft. This identity fraud tactic is known as "phishing." There is no trick to fighting identity fraud like this, save using common sense. If you aren't expecting an email from a trusted source or if you don't know the sender, it is safer to just delete the email.

Of course, the biggest way identity theft gets perpetrated is the most recognizable. Hackers take a more direct approach to fraud. They break into computers and steal the information they need. Again, there's a good way to fight identity theft of this type: Purchase good virus protection and firewall software to block unwanted intruders from your computer.

A series of three-year surveys that ended in 2006 show that, while there has been a decrease in the number of victims of identity fraud, the cost rose to $56 billion dollars last year. More statistics show that:

The average time a victim takes to fight identity theft is 600 hours.

3/4 of victims who responded to the survey said that the crime involved someone getting their hands on a credit card.

The impact of online identity theft and identity fraud is similar to that of violent crimes for the victims.

Identity fraud is a worldwide phenomenon. Every country has lost billions of dollars to some kind of fraud scheme. British number-crunchers have estimated that identity fraud cost the UK economy 1.7 billion pounds.

When Frank Abagnale trains law enforcement officers for the FBI's National Academy about identity theft, he asks agents for their addresses and nothing more. The next day, he returns with everything he would need to steal their lives: Social Security numbers, dates of birth, current salary, checking account numbers, the names of everyone in their family, and more. This illustrates how easy it is for anyone from anywhere in the world to assume our identity and, in a matter of hours, devastate our lives in ways that can take years to recover from. Considering the fact that a fresh victim is hit in the U.S. every four seconds, Stealing Your Life is the reference everyone needs, by an unsurpassed authority on the latest identity-theft schemes.

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