Mortgages, rent payments, and installments of transportation financing are all at risk as well. Identity thieves operate without any limitations on their actions. They care very little, if at all, about the negative affects others will feel. Just to provide some perspective and comparison, Why is that number so low? We can probably attribute that to the fact that it is not as much of a priority as violent crimes.
It requires extra efforts, attention, and communication by and with police and government officials. Similar to other crimes, such as rape, assault, and more, victims often feel embarrassed and ashamed, or are too shy to seek restitution. That may be the most shocking statistic of all.
Could we be too trusting? Perhaps we can be both and too often at that. And who can we trust? About half of reported identity fraud cases come at the hand of family, friends, and co-workers. You can never be too careful. A CBS News report elaborated on those same issues, and that same report unveiled some more eye-opening problems with stopping and catching identity thieves.
Take a step back and think about why that may happen. Your first instinct is to call the credit card company, dispute the charge, and freeze your card temporarily. The issue gets resolved shortly after that. Why bother chasing someone down after your issue is resolved? Like all criminal laws, identity theft laws differ from state to state, and there are also federal laws that have their own penalties. Being convicted of an identity theft crime can lead to one or more of the following penalties:.
Being charged with an identity theft crime is a very serious situation. Depending on your circumstances, being convicted of identity theft can lead to large fines and years or more in prison. Talk to a criminal defense attorney if you are being investigated for, or charged with, an identity theft crime. A lawyer can protect your rights throughout the criminal justice process. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site.
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Call us at 1 The Crime of Identity Theft. The unauthorized use, or even possession, of someone else's personal identifying information can result in a charge of identity theft. Identity Theft Crimes Identity thieves target specific forms of personal identity. Criminal Behavior State identity theft laws cover a wide range of behaviors.
Identity theft can occur when: Someone steals your wallet or purse to obtain your personal information and credit cards. A stranger sees you drop your credit card and decides to pick it up and use it to buy something.
Someone steals your driver's license and gives it to a police officer when pulled over for a speeding ticket, or worse, when arrested.
Someone sends you an email posing as the IRS and directs you to submit your personal information or be audited. If it is a legitimate company, tell them you have been solicited and verify the legitimacy of the call. If the legitimate company tells you that the message is not legitimate, report the Vishing attack to the Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3 at www. You can add yourself to the registry at www. The website is legitimately indexed into search engines such as yahoo or Google so that during the normal course of searching for products or services individuals can find these offers.
Once the individual access the website the user is given incentives and persuaded in such a way that the individual becomes susceptible to give up his or her personal identifying information to take advantage of the offer being given. An example of this would be when you are purchasing a normally high priced item over the internet, such as a video game system, and you find a website that has a much lower price.
You may be tempted to purchase this item at a lower price but you do not realize that you are accessing a fake website. Another example is a job website that may offer a higher salary than the same job by other companies in that industry. To protect yourself, before submitting any information or downloading any attachments, research the company. If you have never heard of the company or the offer, contact competitors and question the legitimacy of what is being offered.
If you are purchasing something, make sure the padlock is visible in the right hand corner of the website scrollbar. Another resource to verify if a website is legitimate is www. This website contains reviews of websites along with message boards for up to date phishing and identification scams going on. SMiShing In this scheme, the identity thief sends spam text messages posing as a financial institution or other legitimate entity. The text message has a sense of urgency, and can scare you into thinking there is a serious emergency by leading you to believe you will suffer financial losses or fees if there is no response.
This may lead you to disclose personal identifying information by clicking on the link that appears on the text message. Do not dial back the unknown number, you would only be providing the spammer some of the information they need from you.
Look through the phone book or the internet for a number to contact the organization that is supposedly contacting you. Verify that your information is actually needed because you have been solicited for information through text messaging.
If you find that the request is not legitimate, contact your cell phone provider and alert them of the scheme. If you find you have become a victim of identity theft, read our What To Do If Your Identity Is Stolen web page for steps to follow that can help you restore your credit.
Malware Based Phishing This scheme occurs when the thief attaches a harmful computer program made to look helpful onto emails, websites, and other electronic documents on the Internet. This type of computer program is called malware. The malware uses key loggers and screen loggers to record your keyboard strokes and sites that you visit on the Internet.
The malware sends the information to the schemer who is located at another location using the Internet. An example of this type of phishing is an email disguised as coming from Norton Anti-Virus. The message prompts you to install an updated web browser to increase your computer security.
You, click on the link and download the supposed updated browser but in reality you have just downloaded malware. To protect yourself from this type of scheme, use caution before downloading or installing any program on the web. Tell the legitimate company that you have received an email requesting that you download a specific file, and that you would like to know if there was any legitimacy to it.
Do not reply the email message; the attacker could trick you into believing that the email is authentic.
Moreover, by replying to the email message, you would be giving some of your information to the attacker. If the company tells you that email is not legitimate, report the phishing attack to the Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3 at www. These email messages offer you opportunities for scholarships, business partnerships, or free products.
In some instances, the spammer pretends to be a financial institution or organization you might belong to. The spam is sent to prompt you to provide your personal identifying information. Research the company and the opportunity or offer advertised. This can be done through a search on the internet or by contacting the company directly. Be extremely cautious of bogus offers. You can Google the offer given to see if others have received the same offer, or check www.
Usually people post messages declaring the Promotion as a scam or verifying it as being legitimate. Check out the website www. If you find that the company is illegitimate, report the phishing attack to the Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3 at www. Spear Phishing This scheme is very similar to the email phishing scam, except it attacks businesses. Spear phishers send emails to almost every employee of an organization and can be written to look like it has been sent by a division within the organization such as the IT or the human resources department.
For instance, the email might state that every employee must send their user name and password for verification purposes. You should protect yourself by contacting the network administrator or the individual that supposedly sent the email to verify that such information is needed.
Do not reply back the email. Notify the head of the division or individual that supposedly sent you the email that you and other colleagues have been solicited for information.
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