There are 5 common areas of Identity Theft. The FTC calls identity theft an epidemic and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The FBI calls identity theft “Financial Cancer”. Other financial experts believe identity theft will grow 20-fold in next few years. What is it, and what can you do?
1
Financial/Credit Identity Theft
Most people think that Financial/Credit identity theft is stealing one’s credit cards or getting access to one’s bank account thru a debit, ATM or credit card. This is not Identity Theft, this is simply larceny, and there are already laws on the books that protect you.
Financial/Credit identity theft occurs when someone steals your information and uses it to set up new lines of credit, buy high ticket items or services in your name. You don’t know about them because the thief changes the address so that they get the bills and you don’t. They max out the lines of credit, the unpaid bills end up going to collection, and eventually wind up in lawsuits against you, accompanying ruined credit.
When you go to buy a home or a car, of apply for a job, or insurance, bad credit and those judgments follow you.
2
Criminal/Character Identity Theft
Criminal/Character Identity Theft occurs when someone impersonates you and commits a crime in your name. Sometimes there are warrants issued, and you could get arrested and will spend time in jail while you try to prove that you are not you. It’s your name, date of birth and address, but it is not you who committed the crime.
An example is if someone steals your wallet and commits one or more crimes, and uses your name. Your identity is then entered into criminal data bases, and will come up on background checks. The thief might also writes checks in your name for more than you have in your account, which leads to your arrest for passing bad checks. You can be arrested and prosecuted for crimes you did not commit or checks you did not write.
3
Social Security Number Theft
One example of Social Security Number Theft is when someone steals your Social Security Number and obtains employment under your Social Security Number. The thief's employer reports wages earned to the IRS and the Franchise Tax Board under your Social Security Number, leaving you to pay income taxes on these earnings.
The best example was recently in the news, where a woman applied for a job at Target. She was told they could not hire her because, “you already work here.” It turned out that Target already employed someone who was using her Social Security Number. A little research uncovered 38 people throughout the country were using her Social Security Number, and her Social Security Number had accumulated over $1 million in unpaid taxes.
Further, an identity thief's use of your Social Security Number can cause you to lose life sustaining benefits, such as medi-cal or other state or federal aid, or cause them to be withdrawn.
4
Driver's License Identity Theft
Driver's license identity theft is where someone commits traffic related offenses in your name. When the identity thief fails to appear in court, warrants are issued in your name.
An example would be your wallet or purse is stolen, with your driver’s license in it. The thief then uses your license in another state and commits vehicular crimes, gets arrested, and jumps bail. Your license that was used by the thief is revoked, and warrants are issued for his arrest in the other state. You get pulled over here, and get arrested under the warrants. You could also lose your auto insurance.
5
Medical Identity Theft
There are two consequences of Medical Identity Theft. The first is when the thief gets medical treatment in your name and you get the bills. Since most medical policies provide a multi million dollar limit, you could sustain significant financial losses. You could also be denied further benefits if the thief exceeds the lifetime policy total.
The second consequence of Medical Identity Theft could be deadly. When a thief gets treated in your name, his ailments, diagnoses, procedures and prescriptions are intertwined with yours. Now your records are confused and in an emergency, your health care practitioners can give you the wrong medications or the wrong blood type. Because of existing HIPPA laws, medical records are almost impossible to correct.
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