These days, people have ample reason to be worried about the vulnerability of their private credit information. While modern improvements in telecommunications and computing allow companies to reach consumers more easily, it is also easier for criminals to illegally grasp their hands on personal information.
Every year, thousands of people are victims of identity theft. According to American government’s Federal Trade Commission statistics, businesses and financial institutions lose nearly 53 billion dollars annually due to such crimes. Even in our hometown Winnipeg, identity theft has evolved into a critical issue for authorities to deal with.
Seventy-three percent of Canadians are concerned about becoming a victim of identity theft, but only 33 percent believed they had the knowledge to prevent themselves from being a victim of identity theft, suggested a Capital One Canada survey.
In order to know how to prevent identity theft, it is crucial to fully understand the concept of identity theft and how criminals go about committing such crimes.
Identity theft is the intentional appropriation and use of personal information for criminal purposes, most notably for stealing money or gaining benefits due to the collected personal data.
This personal identification data includes your name, address, credit card number and Social Insurance Number among others.
In general, identity theft is divided into four separate categories.
Probably the most well-known type of identity theft has to do with financial frauds by using other people’s personal information to acquire goods and services. A prime example is credit card frauds. When a credit card is stolen, it remains usable until the owner notifies its respective company to cancel the card. Therefore, i ...