Identity Theft: The Fastest Growing Crime in America
Identity Theft Soars, But It's Still A Low-Tech Crime
Alright, put your hands together for the biggest new crimewave to hit America (and likely other countries but they weren't covered in the study), yeah, its Identity Theft. There are some interesting forms of it too, from synthetic identity theft, where a false identity is created from stolen components; identity theft within families, which is usually kept quiet; and diabolical identity theft, where a consumer applies for a credit card or other account, runs up large charges, then claims to be the victim of an identity thief.

Now for the good news, most of the ID thefts are not online scams, they are the old fashioned freaks rooting in garbage and finding unshredded credit card reciepts, or by stealing purses or other means like it.

The big online ID theft is credit card fraud. And many numbers are traded in chat rooms like baseball cards.

One further monkey wrench in the works is the fact that lots of companies don't make it all that hard for a file to be started on someone and for the diligent ID thief to compile all the info they need to assume the ID of the mark.

This will sound alot like an echo from the post the other day but protect yourself! Get cards with fraud protection, get a credit report printed out for yourself, hire an agency to monitor your credit ratings to keep tabs on who's trying to do what with your credit. Because, once your credit's been screwed you have a serious uphill climb for a long time.

Cover your assets, shred bills once you're done with them, shred copies, use secure shopping practices and don't, above all else, give away credit information in a flippin' email!