Identity Theft And The 2008 Tax Rebate Checks

Identity theft is the nation’s fastest growing crime. This is according to FBI statistics and identity theft/fraud is the fastest-growing category of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaints. Identity theft usually causes immediate financial losses for the victims, who may also encounter lingering credit and other problems as a result of it. Idenity theft can be committed through e-mail (phishing) or many other ways such as regular mail, fax or telephone, or even by going through someone’s trash.

Credit card fraud is the most common type of ID theft. With enough identifying information about an individual, an identity thief can take over that individual’s identity to conduct a wide range of crimes. Some examples are false applications for loans and credit cards, fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts, fraudulent use of telephone calling cards, or obtaining other goods or privileges which the criminal might be denied if he were to use his real name. If you think you might be a victim, or just want to tighten up the security of your credit, you can tell the major credit bureaus to place a “fraud alert” on your credit file.

Identity theft victims can find resources for legal protection and dealing with banks and creditors. Unfortunately, the damage that criminals do in stealing another person’s identity and using it to commit fraud often takes far longer to undo than it took the criminal to commit the crimes.

With the recent news of upcoming tax rebate checks, identity theft criminals have once again found a way to make a good thing go bad. Unfortunately, we will most likely see a rash of idenity related crimes start to happen once these checks are issued. ID theives will be trying their best to get their hands on these checks and cash them. It is sad that we have to constantly be on the lookout for the ever increasing crime that is identity theft.