How to Protect Against Identity Theft

If you have surfed around this blog a bit, feel free to consider yourself a bit of an expert on the subject of identity theft. You understand that this is a crime wave. You know credit card fraud accounts for barely 1/4 of the total picture -- and not even the most damaging 1/4 at that. You have read a few horror stories.  Now you're ready to act and protect your family against identity theft. Where to begin?

A few steps to take:

• First of all, protect your children. Check their credit reports at least a couple times a year. Children are popular victims because the criminal can get away with it for many years before the child needs to get a loan or apply for financial aid. Keep track of your kids' identities.
• Keep track of where your family's information goes. This can be very helpful in tracking down the criminals. Make a log of every time you submit personal information anywhere, especially your SSN. If your identity is compromised, you can go back through that log and isolate suspects.
• For the love of Pete, shred every single document you throw in the garbage. Even a birthday card can give an identity thief a bit of information that they can use against you (your birthday). Holiday cards should also be shredded as they can reveal things like, say, your mother's maiden name.
• For the love of Petrov, protect your computer. Chances are that this will not be a vector for identity theft, but minimize those chances further by keeping a tight lid on things. I can recommend a good product for protecting your Windows PC.
• If your personal information is compromised -- or if you think it might have been -- inform the credit bureaus and law enforcement immediately. (That's a no-brainer, but a lot of people don't do it for some strange reason.)
• Protect yourself and your spouse by subscribing to a service like Identity Lookout. If you don't use Identity Lookout or don't like me for some reason, please use another one of these services. They're well worth the miniscule investment. (Another no-brainer, really...)

May you get lucky and never fall victim to this crime. I wouldn't wish that nightmare on my worst enemy.

Identity Theft Myths and Facts

There are a lot of misconceptions about identity theft. I'd like to clear a few of those up for you.

Myth: The main danger from this crime is a financial one.

Fact: The financial losses from identity theft are massive, to be sure, totalling $46 billion. This would more accurately be called identity fraud, though. Identity theft facilitates many other types of criminal activity such as terrorism, blackmail, pedophilia and tax evasion.

Myth: Identity theft is pretty cut-and-dried -- someone steals your SSN or credit card information and opens accounts in your name.

Fact: Again, this would be more appropriately termed "identity fraud." The truth is that identity theft takes many forms. Sometimes a stolen identity is not even used by the criminal, as in the case of database break-ins. In many cases the person will simply clone the victim's identity to conceal themselves from authorities, a common practice amoung pedophiles and ex-convicts. In some cases the stolen identity is used to obtain medical treatment. In some cases, the identity is only partially stolen (common among illegal immigrants who will use Joe Blow's SSN under the name Paco Bellgrande.)

Myth: I don't need to worry about identity theft because I have nothing to steal.

Fact: Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the unemployed have recently become a favorite target of identity thieves. Why? Because they probably will not invest the 30 cents a day to protect themselves and thus make easy targets.

Myth: If I do become a victim, I am protected from financial loss.

Fact: It is true that legislation puts the burden on financial institutions, but it is also true that the burden of proving that your identity was stolen falls on the victim. It can take years to sort everything out. How much is your time worth? Plus, as mentioned, financial losses are only a tiny part of the picture.

As you can see, there are many misconceptions about this crime. The main fact that needs to be known is that 10 million Americans will become victims every year. You don't want to be one of them, do you?

Do yourself a favor and protect yourself.

Legal Consequences of Identity Theft

This post is about the penalties -- specifically jail time -- for committing identity theft. What are the consequences for committing identity theft?

The short answer: Not strict enough to deter hardcore criminals from stealing your personal information.

The charge is "aggravated identity theft." The maximum penalty for committing it is 15 years in prison if the damages were over $1,000 in a one-year period. For lesser amounts, the penalty can be a slap on the wrist. Even for larger amounts, the perpetrator might receive probation if their record is otherwise clean.

Really, the way the laws are written now, it is a charge to be tacked on when child molesters, violent criminals, and big-time fraudsters commit "worse" crimes. With budgets being what they are, the average identity thief has to work pretty hard at getting thrown in jail for any length of time. As many ID thieves are new to the crime world, driven by desperation, they often get off with probation.

This explains, in part, the reason for the incredible popularity of this crime among the undesirables of our society. The other part is that they are so often not caught.

My personal opinion is that the penalties should be severe. If you educate yourself about this issue, you will know that the damage done by identity theft is enormous. Surf around this blog and you'll see.

Please, I beg you, protect yourself!