How To Protect Your Identity: Identity Theft Defined | Internet

By PaulWilcox
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Many things can be owned. These things may have been purchased, given as gifts or passed along from one generation of a family to another.

In addition, those possessions can have monetary or sentimental value. Some of those items that have sentimental value can include photographs or heirlooms that have been passed down within the family.

The down side of owning things of value is that they may be susceptible to theft. Sometimes theft can be broadly defined as items lost to a fire, flood, earthquake, etc. In addition, there is an element in society made up of individuals who steal from others and can rob law abiding individuals of their prized possessions.

One other item that can be stolen from individuals is something extremely personal. That item is a person's identity. To increase the general awareness of identity theft it is important to define identity theft. In order to define identity theft it is imperative to know how society defines identity theft and how it can occur.

What Is Identity Theft?

Identity theft is when one person pretends to be someone else, most often for the purpose of committing some type of fraud. This could mean accessing your banks accounts or even committing crimes in your name.

One of the most common impacts of identity theft is financial loss of some sort. Identity theft can affect your finances and credit rating when the thieves are able to access your bank accounts, credit cards and other private information.

Plus, if it continues for long it can have a big impact on your good name. Credit reports, criminal records, employment history - they can all be affected by identity theft. If you run into these problems, it can take years to undo.

How Identity Theft Happens

Identity theft usually happens when someone obtains critical pieces of information about you.

This can include identification numbers, such as your social insurance number and driver's license number - things that only their owner should know. Other potentially dangerous pieces of information are your passwords, account PINs, date of birth or even your mother's maiden name.

If these numbers are obtained by an identity thief, they can use them to pose as you to banks, credit companies or other services. This personal information should never be given out glibly.

Most legitimate companies will only ask for this information if you have initiated the call. They don't call you and ask for it. They may also only ask for the last few digits, rather than the entire number.

Your trash is another source of this information for identity thieves. Don't ever throw out papers with personal information on it - make sure you shred it thoroughly first.

About the Author

Looking for more information about how to stop identity theft? Learn more about how you can protect yourself from becoming a victim at the Online Security Toolkit website.

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