One of the surveys conducted by identity theft resource, identified that use of the internet for identity theft increased dramatically from 15% in 2005 to 28 % in 2006, while it took for the victim from six hours to as many as 144,000 hours for repairing the damage and bearing over $1,884 dollars out of pocket expense. Thing gets worse in 2007 where projected expense is over $15,000.

                             Want to Protect Your Identity?

Along with  identity theft prevention practices, use Lifelock  that prevents your identity from being stolen before it happens .

So what is identity theft?  In simple terms, it is the misuse of the identity (such as the name, date of birth, current address) of another person without their knowledge or consent.

There are numerous ways in which information can be stolen, and the most famous in the online world is phishing, while on the offline world its Bin raiding, where fraudsters retrieve documents such as utility bills, bank statements or even junk mail that you have thrown away. Once this information is obtained, then this information can be used to apply for credit in your name or to perform any malpractice against your name. The best solution to be safe frm bin raiding is to buy a paper shredder, and to use it to shred any documents that contain Social Security number, bank or credit card account numbers, birth dates or any other personal information. Online Criminals utilize technology at best, and for that their best friends are phishing emails, and Trojans.

The anonymity of the internet encourages criminals to perform their crimes  by tricking users out of their personal details without knowledge of who they are really dealing with. By gathering information about individuals, such as their bank account, email address, and log-in details, online fraudsters can in-fact become that person and no one will suspect until it’s too late. There have been numerous identity theft cases where fraudsters took out someones financial information and used that information to move money, open new bank or credit card accounts, take out loans or increase lines of credit, or used their identity for malpractices. After describing what is identity theft, let me allow to give you following simple steps to protect your identity.   

So,  how to protect identity theft?

Protect Your Identity - Employ identity theft prevention practices.

Check Your Credit Report - Knowing your credit information is a good start towards protecting your identity.  It will help you to know if you are already been a victim or not. You can either get free credit report or you can get your credit information for a nominal fee.

Enroll into one of the ID Theft Protection Agencies - Identity theft protection agencies specializes in preventing identity theft before it happens. They do this by placing alerts on your credit report. This means thieves can not open an account or take out a loan in your name without your express consent from a phone call. One good company is LifeLock. If you enroll into Lifelock then they will remove you from junk mail lists, marketing databases and pre-approved credit card offers. If a thief does manage to steal your identity and damage your credit and reputation, Lifelock will do all the footwork to fix your good name, up to one million dollars. 

I hope by reading "what is identity theft", you are now more aware about identity theft, and can take appropriate prevention measures to protect your identity.

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