| There is a problem plaguing corporate America | | | | home of a retired banker that had the credit |
| today. And it is a serious enough problem | | | | card details of over one thousand of the |
| that could have repercussions on the very | | | | bank's clients. Why the retired banker had |
| nature of our economy. This is a problem that | | | | the information was irrelevant. What was |
| can strike any one of us who ever held a | | | | relevant was that the theft was discovered in |
| credit card or a bank debit card or ever | | | | time to prevent any large scale identity |
| shopped online. The problem is one that has | | | | theft. But the thieves have been getting |
| come to be known as Identity Theft. | | | | smarter and better. |
| | | | |
| The repercussions are more than mere | | | | One of the more common methods of identity |
| identity. Estimates of the financial fall out | | | | theft nowadays involves fraudulent retailers |
| of identity theft range from a few billion | | | | who set up dummy retail outlets on the |
| dollars a year to as much as 480 billion | | | | banking network and try out stolen credit |
| dollars! And experts in the field of identity | | | | cards for nominal charges. Once they are |
| theft only claim that it is growing by the | | | | approved, they typically make a large |
| day. | | | | withdrawal from a nearby automated teller |
| | | | machine. |
| Identity theft first made an appearance in | | | | |
| the news headlines when the odd shopper or | | | | But as the perpetrators of identity theft get |
| credit card holder reported the loss of a | | | | smarter, the banks too have begun installing |
| small amount of money. Frequently, this was | | | | security features that make it more and more |
| discovered to be related to fraud more than | | | | difficult for the fraudsters. Today's network |
| identity theft. One particular case that made | | | | security systems are smart enough to enable |
| the headlines pertained to a man who had been | | | | bankers to spot the first instances of |
| buying pornography on the Internet and had | | | | identity theft almost as soon as the theft |
| used his wife's credit card. When he was | | | | occurs. But a lot more needs to be done to |
| found out, as he ultimately would have been | | | | restore the faith of the general public in |
| found, he cried identity theft and lodged a | | | | the infallibility of their credit cards. |
| complaint. Turns out the man had not even | | | | |
| bothered to cover his tracks. The IP address | | | | Identity theft will always be with us but, |
| of his computer was tracked to the websites | | | | there are steps you can take to minimise your |
| he had visited and the hoax of identity theft | | | | risk. Have a look around the web and you will |
| was quickly discovered and plugged. | | | | see there is a plentiful supply of free |
| | | | information. specialises in preventing |
| But there are several genuine cases of | | | | internet banking fraud. If you use internet |
| identity theft that occur on an alarmingly | | | | banking then take a look: |
| frequent basis. A recent news report | | | | InternetBankingRevealed. |
| mentioned the theft of a lap top from the | | | | |