You Must Prevent Identity Theft

Believe it or not identity theft has moved to the dead. Lengthy obituary and death notices gives crooks more valuable information that they use to do more damage. Although the deceased don’t have to be concerned with keeping their credit rating good, the emotional burden of the crimes cause undue stress on the family. They assume the identity of a deceased person and could live for years under that name before anyone finds out. If you discover signs of identity theft or any type of fraud from a deceased relative, notify the police immediately and file a report.

The most common use is credit card fraud. Armed with personal information such as a name, date of birth, and Social Security number, thieves can impersonate someone else in order to open new lines of credit. These prescreened offers sometimes contain credit cards that the thieves can activate by calling a toll-free number. The suspect appears to have used his own picture on a false driving license with identity theft prevention protection and therefore used this to claim the victim’s name and social security number. They do this by using their victim’s personal information to verify the thief’s identity as the real account holder.

It seems as if every time you turn on the TV news these days, there is some story at least once or twice a week about some new identity theft scam. Once the thief has opened the new accounts such as Visa cards, department store cards, even personal loans, the thief gets as much money as he can on those accounts, then disappears into the sunset. Some people claim that modern technology is to blame for the growing problem of identity theft crimes, but that is simply a knee-jerk reaction.

When others steal your identity they also have easy access to much of your personal data and, quite often, your financial affairs. One of the ways in which identity fraudsters can cause problems for you and your family is by applying for credit – for instance for loans or credit cards, and then use the money they get from this to create further debt for you for which you are responsible. It can take you many months or even years to identify the theft of your personal data and to rectify the wrong that has been done.