Identity Theft

Gartner Inc, a giant in the research field, estimates that only one out of seven hundred people who commit identity fraud ever gets brought to justice. In Medford Oregon recently they apparently found the one.

Associate Press News Service reports on an identity thief who showed at at an area bank to cash a bogus check. What makes this story so bizarre is the thief was caught by the person he had been victimizing. It seems that person was there at the exact time disputing the bogus charges showing up on his financial statement.

Unfortunately for many others who have had their identity stolen there's no chance of them coming face to face with the thief and by some miracle apprehending them. Identity theft and fraud affects eight to nine million people every single year. While check fraud and other forms of identity theft have seen a sharp dropoff others such as phishing websites are rising at record levels. The innovations in technology are making identity fraud a whole lot easier.

For instance cell phone users may be feeling the pinch thanks to downloading certain applications which have the capability of stealing any personal information you may have stored (like online banking logins and passwords)and routing it to a remote server where identity thieves are waiting to record the information.

The good news is there is an excellent resource at your disposal. In 1998 The U.S Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. This law made identity theft a federal offense and with it comes tougher punishment when identity theft criminals are captured and convicted.

Aside from that it placed the Federal Trade Commission commonly referred to as the FTC at the vanguard of fighting identity fraud. The FTC and in particular their internet site is chock full of information such as preventions tips, videos and news reports. Over the past 10 years they have done an impressive job in their work to inform the public on exactly how firmly and deeply this particular crime has become in this country as well as the measures needed to protect from it.

A key feature was the development of the Identity Theft Clearinghouse database. It is an online repository built to aid local and federal law enforcement officials. Each and every complaints regarding identity theft are promptly entered into the database that is kept up to date constantly.

One other thing this law has done to aid consumers with whatever credit problem they may be experiencing due to identity theft. Even when they are fully aware you've been victimized credit agencies for reasons all their own are still slow to act in terms of eradicating it from your personal records. This action can often get speeded up when you have the United States government backing you up.

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