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ID Theft - Fastest growing financial crime in America

Written by: Teena

Article Overview: Identity theft is the fastest growing financial crime in America - striking thousands of victims each year. In a matter of seconds, your personal information such as a social security number, a credit card number and/or an address can be stolen and used to obtain a new mortgage, a line of credit or additional credit cards. Protect yourself from this fast growing trend.

ID Theft - Fastest growing financial crime in America

Identity theft is the fastest growing financial crime in America - striking thousands of victims each year. In a matter of seconds, your personal information such as a social security number, a credit card number and/or an address can be stolen and used to obtain a new mortgage, a line of credit or additional credit cards.

You may not know that your identity has been stolen until unauthorized transactions appear on credit card statements, collection notices appear in the mail or loan applications are declined. In a short period of time, extensive damage can be done as a result of a stolen identity event.

Restoring your name and good credit is a time-consuming and expensive process. On average, it takes six months to detect identity theft and approximately 200 hours to recover from the crime. Victims must endure a number of costly steps to dispute fraudulent debts and accounts opened by an identity thief.

Although there are many different ways to rip off someone's identity, there are two basic types of actual identity theft. The first one is generally the easiest and most basic way for thieves to achieve their objective. "Account takeover" is when a thief gets hold of your actual physical credit card, or perhaps just the card number and expiration date, using it to purchase services or products. This works out extremely well for the thief, as the credit card owner doesn't usually notice the additional purchases until they either receive their monthly statement in the mail or have attempted to use the card and found that it has reached the maximum limit allowed.

The second type of identity theft is called Application Fraud, otherwise known as "true name fraud". In order for a thief to be successful at application fraud, they must have access to your personal information such as your Social Security Number (SSN), full name, address, driver's license number, date of birth etc. Of course not all of this information would be necessary for a thief to get away with application fraud. Once the thief has any part of the information, he or she can use it to take over the victim's accounts. He or she can apply for loans and even purchase items and services. The thief can also apply for medical benefits, education assistance and other personal finances.

Having identity theft protection and using it is very important to your well being, in many respects. Identity theft protection is mostly about being aware and taking the steps to protect yourself from this fast growing trend. It is also important to be able to spot when something is happening to you. You should have access to theft restoration, theft insurance and recovery. If you don't, you could find yourself having to unwrap quite a tangled mess later on. Being a smart consumer is necessary here.

Like many, you may assume that identity theft only happens to those people who might be a bit more careless when it comes to safeguarding personal information. Or perhaps you think that because you don't really have a lot of money in your personal account or don't have credit cards with large spending limits, that identity theft thieves wouldn't necessarily target someone like yourself. Well, make no mistake about it; identity theft can happen to anyone, including you! Basically, if you have an identity (and we hope that you do) then you are susceptible.

Identity theft is the "perfect crime" Everyone who is anyone can be a victim including children. The best way to prevent yourself from being a victim is by learning about the crime and getting protection. There are millions affected every year.

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Article Tags: account takeover, address driver, application fraud, costly steps, credit card statements, crime victims, expiration date, financial crime, loan applications, mail, many different ways, maximum limit, new mortgage, objective account, short period, social security number, thief, thieves, true name, unauthorized transactions



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Re: About: product production! - [quote="terrycan":9tqf6l92]Kevin, When was the last time you were in a fight? Copying artwork is a crime. If you copyright or register a trademark for your work your case will be a slam dunk. Don't be afraid to go toe to toe with a thief. I have been amazed at how fast people will back off when they realize they are dealing with someone that understands their rights. True the patent office is nothing more than a place of registry and does not enforce the law. Times and attitudes change I recommend you watch "Flash of Genius" Fifty years ago if you said America will have a black President people would have laughed you out of the room[/quote:9tqf6l92] All of this is new to me as far as patents etc goes, bit I have one question. If someone copies you patented item, but changes one or two details on it, can you still claim that they have stolen your patent? MichelleJ
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