Rise Of Identity Theft

Identity theft is without a doubt on the rise. According to statisticbrain.com as of April 8th, 2015 the average number of identity fraud victims in the United States is 12,157,400 annually, as well as an average loss of $5,130 per identity theft incident (Identity Theft / Fraud Statistics, 2015). Many people are unaware of the risk that they are at for being a victim of identity fraud. In fact, many people who are victims do not even notice that they have been the victim of identity theft until after it is too late. A lot of people don’t think about it or worry about it much because they don’t think it will ever happen to them when in actuality most victims never expected it to happen to them either. There are steps and precautions for people
to take that would help lower the risk of them having identity theft happen to them. A few precautionary steps that can and should be taken by any individual to protect themselves, their property, and their finances is:
• Protect your social security number. Don’t carry your social security card around with you unless absolutely necessary.
• When at an ATM or shopping anywhere where you have to enter your pin number to your debit or credit card, cover the keypad while entering your PIN to prevent anyone from watching you and receiving your PIN number.
• Keep and review all of your receipts from stores and places where you pay with your cards. Compare your totals to the statements and keep a look out for unfamiliar transactions on your statements as well.
• Shred anything that has your name, address, phone number, social security number, card numbers, as well as any other personal information on it. This helps prevent against someone receiving your personal information out of your trash.