Identity Theft - Introduction

Excerpt from Identity Theft, A Resource Guide

Introduction

Imagine the following: you're excitedly getting ready to apply for a loan for a new home for your family.  You've found the perfect place, you have the money for the down payment, and all you need now is to get approval for a mortgage.  Since you have been responsible with your credit, you don't expect to run into any snags in the process.  Everything, in your mind, should run smoothly.

To your surprise, your loan application is rejected because of your credit history.  You're puzzled, even distraught.  Maybe it's all a mix-up, you think hopefully.

A little investigation proves just how wrong you are.  When you do a little digging, you find that your credit history is littered with opened lines of credit that have never been repaid and that your personal debt, according to the records, is astronomical.

You've just discovered that you are a victim of identity theft.

While the above scenario is hypothetical, similar events happen all over the world every single day.  Completely unsuspecting individuals find out, usually by accident, that someone has gained access to their personal information and have used that information to take out credit cards, to empty their bank accounts, etc.

Most victims never even know how, when, or by whom they were attacked since the entire crime usually takes place without physical contact of any kind.  Their privacy has been violated but they wouldn't be able to describe the culprit or point him/her out in a line-up no matter how badly they'd like to.

So what can you do?

This ebook is designed to answer that question.  Together, we're going to look more deeply into identity theft, how it happens, and how it can be stopped.  By understanding the phenomenon, you'll also learn how to protect yourself, your personal information, your finances, and your privacy from those who maliciously want to ruin you for their own gain.  We'll also answer some of the most common questions people have about identity theft because the best form of protection is education.

With that said, let's get started by discussing some basic facts about identity theft and its history.

---------------------------------------------------
The above is an excerpt from Identity Theft, A Resource Guide available from www.PCSecurityNews.com.  To recieve a free copy of this e-book, register here: www.PCSecurityNews.com/register.html.
This page is Copyrighted 2005 by @MOTION, Inc.
---------------------------------------------------