The use of your personal data such as your name, address, telephone number, credit card, and mothers maiden name by other people is called identity theft, which is also known to be an identity fraud. It is the illegal use of your personality to commit crime or any illegal acts.

Usually, the purpose of this crime is to commit financial fraud or deception. Either it is using your name to buy something or obtain something through the use of your credit account and other personal security accounts.

By the use of your name, the identity thief gets a good service. And you are left with a bill that is in your name and you will be asked to pay.

Sometimes, well-established citizens are the ones victimized by identity theft; but it can also target people who do not have large accounts.

These identity thieves also use college students, the data and information about these students are much better and much easier to obtain. They use their names for application for credit cards and use it for criminal and illegal purposes.

Most college students do not care about their financial account and do not apply for these credit cards but will eventually receive credit card application on their mailbox.

Large business groups are the main target of these identity thieves. They usually find out before they apply for credits, they have history of non-payment of bills. Bills they knew nothing about because they were actually done by these identity thieves.

Small businesses can also be surprised when they apply for a loan and denied approval because of nonpayment of an existing loan that needs to be paid. This is a very critical problem where in these small businesses find they have to pay a loan they did not purchase.

It is possible for almost anybody to be victimized by these identity thieves. This is due to modern technology that exists in our world today.

Transactions are made without face-to-face contact, transactions that require the name, address, contact number, security information and sometimes password. By using malicious software that can be downloaded through websites, thieves is able to gets all the information they need.

This is how easy it is for these thieves get the information they need. Once they have all the information they need, they have before them all the possibilities to commit different financial and other related crimes.

These thieves use different identities to purchase things, use different services, obtain a bank account, apply for a credit card, apply for loans and other government benefits and obtain money using the victims identity.

The major problem with this kind of crime is that the victim will be forced to clear all the transaction he or she has not made. In most cases, these thieves usually pretend to be the victims identity, obtaining all the necessary information including the victims security settings.

The sad thing is, these transactions are done without the knowledge of the owner. The surprise comes when he receives the many bills and loans to be paid. The more that these thieves involve the victims identity in these crimes the longer it takes to repair the damage.

The damage done to the victim will cause problems in obtaining new jobs, applying for credit cards and renting apartments.

However, this major problem can be resolved. Many companies offer identity theft insurance. Many people will have the ability to obtain this insurance as an option in their home insurance policy.

It is now possible to detect the people that use the personal data of others if they have a home insurance policy. By these means, the owner can find out who these thieves are, that try to use their personal data.

Reports about the present situation of the accounts are given to the owner in regular basis. However, the owner may need to pay for the service rendered.

The amount that is paid over to these identity theft insurance is huge. There are many debates about it but people prefer to pay it to have peace of mind.

It is better to pay the huge premium than to be worried about the security of your identity. These insurance companies will protect the account from identity thieves. It takes the worry out of the equation if your accounts are secured by it.

For more information on Identity Theft Click Here



By: Lucas Heijn

About the Author:

No one person can say for surehow large a role bots play in cybercrime today. Cybercrime will, at some point, make use of a botnet to do everything from spamming to hosting fraudulent Web sites. Internet security softwaregiant Symantec has protected people from bots for a lot of years and has tracked the evolution of bots from basic threats to highly complicated crimeware. For at least a few years Symantec has seen a frightening increase in the amount of bots attacking the Internet by way of automatic assaults in search of new victims.

Symantec documented almost 9,000 different variations of the three prevailing bots – Spybot, Gaobot and Randex in the first half of 2005 alone! This means that there are at least 50 new criminally motivated bots a day searching the Internet for unprotected computers and peoples identities.

The new bots are basically members of an existing ‘family’ of bot software and therefore they are not entirely new. The identity thieves and other criminals make minor changes in an attempt to sneak past security software, trick a user with a new tactic or capitalize on a newly discovered vulnerability. Bots and botnets are the “Swiss army knives” of cybercrime, in that they are used for a multiple of purposes. Bots are a part of almost every kind of popular cybercrime today. The botnet owners lease out their sinister networks for a fee to the identity thieves and other criminals or use the bots themselves so that they can steal un-protected identities and commitmany other types of crime.

Bots are most often part of an identity theft by not only infecting the computer to be used as a “zombie” later but also stealing personal information from an unknowing victim and sending it back to the identity thief. Below, we want to show you a bot that works for identity thieves on the black-market. This particular bot was designed for an online forum for identity thieves to assist in basic identity theft tasks, such as finding out whether stolen credit cards are valid, the credit card limits and additional information like the CVV2 code and expiration date.

The following are examples of a bot performing ordinary tasks for different identity thieves:

!cclimit 4854xxxxxxxxxxxx

redeyezz I found limit for your visa

(4854xxxxxxxxxxxx) : 7,535 $

This first example is an identity thief with the name “redeyezz”, asking the bot what the limit is of a presumably stolen credit card by using the command “!cclimit” and the credit card number.

!chk 4158xxxxxxxxxxxx xx0x

Vietnamhack 4158xxxxxxxxxxxx : xx0x (Valid cc)

!chk 6011xxxxxxxxxxxx xx0x

jyde 6011xxxxxxxxxxxx : xx0x (You’re Card is Declined)

This second example shows two identity thieves checking the validity of 2 different credit cards, where one is still valid and the other got declined because it is no longer valid.



Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works



By: Randy Vezina

About the Author:

Identity theft is when someone else assumes your personal information and poses as you. Therefore it’s not only just a question of stealing credit card numbers. There are several ways and places where your personal information can be stolen by the identity thieves.

There are four different categories of identity theft; they include business or commercial identity theft, identity cloning, criminal identity theft, and financial identity theft.

People use identity theft for different reasons. There are those who can use identity theft to blackmail someone, use it for terrorist activities, or illegal immigration. Identity cloning is mostly used for online credit card processing. Those who use identity theft for non financial purposes could use them to get attention for the victim’s achievement, which is also referred to as media identity theft.

Financial identity theft is mostly used for bank fraud whereby the identity thief is able to impersonate someone else and manage to obtain a loan from a financial institution by presenting all the accurate information of the victim to the bank, especially if the transaction is carried out online.

This type of crime is referred to as non-self-revealing and it’s quite common since the perpetrator doesn’t have to show his face. However, if the funds are released, the authorities can still be able to track down the criminal. Once the money is given, the financial institution is never paid back whereas the criminal keeps the money while the victim is accused of defaulting on a loan that was never authorized by the victim.

In cases of identity concealment and cloning, the criminal impersonates the victim by acquiring the victim’s personal identifiers for the sole reason of concealing himself from the authorities. This is mostly done by people working in foreign countries, a person who wants to avoid arrest or someone who wants to avoid other individuals or creditors.

This kind of identity theft crime is known to go on for a long period of time, and the perpetrator may go on to obtain fraudulent IDs that go as far as making the criminal more authentic .

Most of these criminals get the personal identifiers of their victims from dumpster diving, shoulder surfing, smart cards, or by infiltration of organizations that keep large amounts of personal information. Even social online network services that happen to expose the personal details of users can be an easy target for identity thieves.

When there is a serious breach of privacy, the possibility of a criminal getting your personal identifiers becomes much easier. As much as some of the personal identifiers are got through burglary or theft, the best strategy for potential victims is to protect themselves from such thieves by whatever means possible by ensuring that their personal information is safe and secure at all times. ?



By: Bill Protresi

About the Author:

Terry Cordell asked:


What are the first steps I should take if I’m a victim of identity theft?



If you are a victim of identity theft, take the following four steps as soon as possible, and keep a record with the items of your conversations and copies of all correspondence.



Place a “fraud alert” on your credit reports and review your credit reports.



Fraud alerts can help prevent an identity thief from opening any more accounts in your name. Contact the toll-free fraud number of any of the three consumer reporting companies below to place a fraud alert on your credit report. You only need to contact one of the three firms to put an alert. The firm you call is required to contact the other two, which will place an alert on their versions of your report, too.



Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241



Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013



TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790



Once you place the fraud alert in your file, you’re entitled to order free copies of your credit reports, and, if you ask, only the last four digits of your Social Security number will appear on your credit reports. Once you receive your credit reports, review them carefully. Look for inquiries from companies you haven’t contacted, accounts you didn’t open, and debts on your accounts that you can’t explain. Check that information, like your Social Security number, address(es), name or initials, and employers are correct. If you find fraudulent or inaccurate information, get it removed. Continue to check your credit reports periodically, especially for the first year after you discover the identity theft, to make sure no new unlawful activity has occurred.



What is a fraud alert?



There are two types of fraud alerts: an initial alert and an extended alert.



An initial alert stays on your credit report for at least 90 days. You may ask that an initial fraud alert be placed on your credit report if you suspect you have been, or are about to be, a victim of identity theft. An initial alert is appropriate if your wallet has been stolen or if you’ve been taken in by a “phishing” scam. When you place an initial fraud alert on your credit report, you’re entitled to one free credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies.



An extended alert stays on your credit report for seven years. You can have an extended alert placed on your credit report if you’ve been a victim of identity theft and you provide the consumer reporting company with an “identity theft report.” When you place an extended alert on your credit report, you’re entitled to two free credit reports within twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. In addition, the consumer reporting companies will remove your name from marketing lists for pre-screened credit offers for five years unless you ask them to put your name back on the list before then.



To place either of these alerts on your credit report or to have them removed, you will be required to provide appropriate proof of your identity: that may include your Social Security number, name, address and other personal information requested by the consumer reporting company. If you have questions about the process, a qualified credit repair company may be able to assist you.



When a business sees the alert on your credit report, they must verify your identity before issuing you credit. As part of this verification process, the business may try to contact you directly. This may cause some delays if you’re trying to obtain credit. To compensate for possible delays, you may wish to include a cell phone number, where you can be reached easily, in your alert. Remember to keep all contact information in your alert current.



What is an identity theft report?



An identity theft report may have two parts:



Part One is a copy of a report filed with a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, like your local police department, your State Attorney General, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the FTC, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. There is no federal law requiring a federal agency to take a report about identity theft; however, some state laws require local police departments to take reports. When you file a report, provide as much information as you can about the crime, including anything you know about the dates of the identity theft, the fraudulent accounts opened and the alleged identity thief.



Part Two of an identity theft report depends on the policies of the consumer reporting company and the information provider (the business that sent the information to the consumer reporting company). That is, they may ask you to provide information or documentation in addition to that included in the law enforcement report which is reasonably intended to verify your identity theft. They must make their request within 15 days of receiving your law enforcement report or, if you already obtained an extended fraud alert on your credit report, the date you submit your request to the credit reporting company for information blocking.



The consumer reporting company and information provider then have 15 more days to work with you to make sure your identity theft report contains everything they need. They are entitled to take five days to review any information you give them. For example, if you give them information 11 days after they request it, they do not have to make a final decision until 16 days after they asked you for that information. If you give them any information after the 15-day deadline, they can reject your identity theft report as incomplete; you will have to resubmit your identity theft report with the correct information.



You may find that most federal and state agencies, and some local police departments, offer only “automated” reports, reports that do not require a face-to-face meeting with a law enforcement officer. Automated reports may be submitted online, or by telephone or mail. If you have a choice, do not use an automated report. Why? It’s more difficult for the consumer reporting company or information provider to verify the information. Unless you are asking a consumer reporting company to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report, you probably will have to provide additional information or documentation when you use an automated report.



Close the accounts that you know, or believe, have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.



Call and speak with someone in the security or fraud department of each company. Follow up in writing, and include copies (NOT originals) of supporting documents. It’s important to notify credit card companies and banks in writing. Send your letters by certified mail, return receipt requested, so you can document what the company received and when. Keep a file of your correspondence and enclosures.



When you open new accounts, use new Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and passwords. Avoid using easily available information like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your Social Security number or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers.



If the identity thief has made charges or debits on your accounts, or on fraudulently opened accounts, ask the company for the forms to dispute those transactions:



For charges and debits on existing accounts, ask the representative to send you the company’s fraud dispute forms. If the company doesn’t have special forms, use the sample letter to dispute the fraudulent charges or debits. In either case, write to the company at the address given for “billing inquiries,” NOT the address for sending your payments.



Once you have resolved your identity theft dispute with the company, ask for a letter stating that the company has closed the disputed accounts and has discharged the fraudulent debts. This letter is your best proof if errors relating to this account reappear on your credit report or you are contacted again about the fraudulent debt.



File a report with your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took place.



Then, get a copy of the police report or at the very least, the number of the report. It can help you deal with creditors who need proof of the crime. If the police are reluctant to take your report, ask to file a “Miscellaneous Incidents” report, or try another jurisdiction, like your state police. You also can check with your state Attorney General’s office to find out if state law requires the police to take reports for identity theft.



What do I do if the local police won’t take a report?



There are efforts at the federal, state and local level to ensure that local law enforcement agencies understand identity theft, its impact on victims, and the importance of taking a police report. However, we still hear that some departments are not taking reports. The following tips may help you to get a report if you’re having difficulties:



Furnish as much documentation as you can to prove your case. Debt collection letters, credit reports and other evidence of fraudulent activity can help demonstrate the seriousness of your case.



Be persistent if local authorities have told you that they can’t take a report. Stress the importance of a police report; many creditors require one to resolve your dispute. Remind them that consumer reporting companies will automatically block the fraudulent accounts and bad debts from appearing on your credit report, but only if you can give them a copy of the police report.



If you’re told that identity theft is not a crime under your state law, ask to file a Miscellaneous Incident Report instead.



If you can’t get the local police to take a report, try your county police. If that doesn’t work, try your state police.