Identity theft is real.
It is something that you can't take for granted as they are actually happening.
No one is exempted from this crime as everyone can be a victim.
The most that can be done is to minimize the risk and attract less identity thieves into your personal information.
Of course, it would always pay to know some basic information about identity theft as this can put you in the proper perspective.
What can identity thieves do to me? Identity theft can do a lot of damaging things in many aspects of your life.
Specifically, here are some things that identity thieves do when they have stolen identities in their possession: 1.
Make charges to the victim's existing credit cards.
This is probably known as the most common purpose of identity theft.
Identity thieves often get hold of their victim's credit card number (since this is also the easiest to access) and make purchases or avail of services without their victim's consent.
Often, identity thieves file for a change of address which then redirects the credit card bills to the new address specified by the identity thief.
In so doing, the charges are not immediately caught by the credit card owner unless they notice immediately that their bills are not arriving as often as they should.
2.
Opening new credit cards under your name.
This is also like the previous one although much convenient.
Identity thieves are also known to open new credit accounts under their victim's names, and instead of making purchases using the victim's personal credit card, they use the new credit card instead.
This makes the crime last longer because unless the victim monitors his or her credit reports religiously, they will not be able to detect that another account has been opened under his or her name.
3.
Withdrawing funds from your existing bank accounts.
This is another form of financial identity theft where identity thieves withdraw funds from your account and or transfer it to a different account.
At the worst, criminals can totally drain your bank account without your consent and when you try to withdraw, you will be informed that your account has already been closed.
This can be very frustrating and traumatizing.
Your life savings can be stolen and you will be left with nothing.
4.
Apply to jobs under your name.
These are typical of illegal immigrants who use another person's identity to "legally" apply for jobs.
Since these immigrants do not have working visas and other pertinent documents that they can use to seek employment in the United States, they resort to identity theft and often use their victim's social security number to secure jobs, pay taxes and live openly as another person.
5.
Apply for a new driver's license.
This form of identity theft can be very dangerous.
A driver's license will be issued under your name but the picture that will appear will that of another person's.
The person who commits this fraud can engage his or herself in various crimes and when they are caught, the only identifying card that they have is his or her driver's license.
Little do you know but when a policeman pulls you over for speeding, he scans your driver's license and you will have a warrant served against you for a crime that you did not commit.