Preventing identity theft - stop identity theft

Preventing identity theft - stop identity theft

Discover smart steps for preventing identity theft . Learn to block bad guys' attempts to infiltrate and plunder your money and credit accounts.

Preventing ID theft may be foremost on the minds of over 9 million Americans who've discovered the footprint of thieves in their financial accounts, however major credit industry institutions appear slow to react to the growing tide of identity theft crime. In just one year, from 2002 to 2003, identity theft crime rates surged 80% on "reported" incidences. Unreported identity theft crime, incubating or undetected, would drive identity theft crime statistics into plague proportions, if reliable measurements were available.
Preventing identity theft keys on the personal information resources which you own, yet distribute widely as you utilize the myriad credit facilities available to Americans. While preventing identity theft may not be a consideration when buying a pair of shoes with your credit card down at your local mall, your purchase and share of verification data means potential opportunity to identity theft criminals.

ID theft criminals are sophisticated in their knowledge of the credit industry and its anemic identity theft prevention mechanisms, which are rudimentary and easily circumvented. What the identity theft criminal seeks is key trailer information left behind in transaction files, such as your name, address, birth date, social security number (such as for a job application), mother's maiden name, actual credit card numbers, account titling and account numbers for banking or mortgage or insurance or brokerage matters. Preventing identity theft by these villains is neither simple nor easy. In the aggressively open market free enterprise system based fundamentally on stimulating consumption, credit is the key driver which no amount of identity theft law can inhibit.

Preventing identity theft generally comes "too little and too late" for identity theft victims, where nearly 90% of victims are first to discover the criminal plundering of their financial accounts or the underlying identity theft used to open entirely new credit facilities. Credit issuers undertake limited measures for preventing identity theft and abuse of financial accounts. Proponents for preventing identity theft argue that credit accounts such as for charge cards, ATMs, phone cards and so on could easily be configured with a "stop loss" mechanism similar to the securities industries, where financial activity above a pre-determined dollar or percentage triggers a denial of credit.

Ordinarily, people implicitly trust that credit bureaus remain in continuous contact at the institutional level for purposes of preventing identity theft or any related account activity anomaly. However, reality is starkly opposite in terms of preventing ID fraud. As any identity theft victim will attest, most major credit institutions are lethargic if not outright uncooperative when a victim notifies the institution of "suspicious activity" in a bank savings or checking account or credit card account. Indeed, the identity theft victim typically works years, spends thousand of dollars, and experiences psychological injury akin to violent crime victims as they attempt to close fraudulent accounts, minimize their losses, and obtain support from the credit reporting bureaus to re-state a truthful personal credit history report, with the previous fraud and non-payment properly disclosed.

Preventing identity theft is gaining traction amongst lawmakers, where statutes such as 15 USC Section 1643 limit losses to the identity theft victim to the first $50. Meanwhile, financial institutions foot-drag on preventing identity theft exposure, yet pay nearly $48 billion in 2002 in losses related directly to identity theft and fraud.

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