It's very difficult today not to become a victim of Identity Theft. The chances of someone actually having their identity stolen is much larger than most people think. Everyday these crooks come up with new schemes to steal a person's identity, that it makes it nearly impossible to keep up with them. There are thousands of ways that an identity criminal can access your information. However, majority of our nation's population believes that a criminal has to physically steal your belongings in order to get your personal data. On the contrary, they have figured out several ways to take your personal information without having to lay a hand on any of your tangible items.
3 Ways To Have Your Information Stolen That Most Don't Know About
1. R.F.I.D- Also known as Radio Frequency Identification Technology. This is a new and up coming scheme that is starting to find it's way through the United States. The funny part of it all, is that you have probably used an RFID once or twice before without realizing it. This type of technology is found in most of our credit, debit, or bank cards. You simply wave the card in front of the device and it will pick up your information so that you would not have to input any pin numbers of any sort. Some banks, department stores, and drive through food places have these types of devices for their customers. Here's the kicker, crooks are able to purchase a wireless R.F.I.D. device for less than a $100 and carry it in the palm of their hand. All the identity thief has to do is simply pass by you like anyone else, and the R.F.I.D. will pick up all your card information without you ever noticing. This also goes for passports as well. It happens in less than 2 seconds.
2. Wireless Networks- Many places now offer the convenience of free Wi-Fi. The problem with connecting to a Wi-Fi network, is that there have been hundreds of cases where people believed they were connecting to a friendly network, but in fact were connecting to a fraudulent one. Thieves can set up a wireless network at the exact same spot you are at and use the exact same name as the place offering free Wi-Fi. Once connected to the fake Wi-Fi Network, the crooks can actually hack into your system and begin downloading your personal info that you may have on you computer. Also, they can see everything you are seeing. So if you are using your email or checking your online bank account, the crooks can also see your personal information. No matter if you have any type of security protection. Once you are sharing a wireless network that's not yours, your information is available to whom ever it does belong to.
3. Social Security Number Prediction- This by far is the most devious way identity crooks can obtain your Social Security number. You don't have to be an identity theft expert to know that that your Social Security is the number one tool for an identity thief to begin destroying all your credit. You S.S number actually stands for a code. These criminals have figured out what each number stands for, making it easy to predict a S.S number that has not yet been issued. or can randomly figure out one that has been issued. You will never know if you or your child's Social Security number is being used until your next credit report or when you try to open a credit account and you have less than bad credit.
In Conclusion...
Despite the ever growing rate of Identity Theft, there are many ways to prevent it from happening to you and your family. The most difficult part however, is knowing what you need to do to start protecting them. Practicing awareness is always the best solution. The more you become aware of Identity Theft and how it can affect you or your loved ones, the more cautious you will be about how you handle your personal information.
The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention
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