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The History of Identity Theft: How It All Began by Steven Smith
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The History of Identity Theft: How It All Began |
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Business
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The rate at which identity theft occurs continues to increase. Identity theft involves a person's identity being stolen by a criminal to get financial gain. Often, the victim is unaware that their identity has been stolen until they receive a credit card or bank account statement full of fraudulent charges. To understand the ways in which this crime can be prevented, it's important to take a look at the history of identity theft. The perception is that ID theft became a problem as a result of the internet, but this simply isn't true. These crimes occurred far before the internet came into existence. As a matter of fact, it was ages ago when thieves first started stealing other people's identity. Thieves would kill and then steal the identity of that person to benefit financially and gain anonymity. Though, ID theft has really risen over the last five years or so. Thieves are always finding new ways to do it, such as contacting a person and obtaining their personal information by offering them some prize or incentive over the phone or e-mail. After the offer, the thief will ask you for your personal information and address so they can send the item to you. While this method is still used by criminals to get access to a person's information over the phone, it is not as common as it once was. Years ago, they were more successful at it because not as many people were aware that it was a scam, but that has since changed. As a result, identity theft has evolved into other methods such as dumpster diving. Dumpster diving is simply another technique used by thieves to get the information they are looking for. This began when thieves realized that people throw their credit card and bank statements away by finding them in the garbage. This method is still popular today, so always be aware of what you are tossing into the trash can. Any documents consisting of important details should be shredded. The advent of the internet certainly has contributed to the increase in identity theft crimes. The history of identity theft is constantly developing which means that individuals must take steps to protect themselves. A scam commonly seen online involves the use of e-mail by thieves claiming to be a legitimate company in need of personal information from you. The internet is being utilized by thieves to conceal their identity while stealing it from others.
Related Articles -
ID Theft, ID Theft Protection, Identity Theft Protection, Protect Your ID,
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