| Identity theft (ID theft or identity fraud) is the | | | | statistics expose phishing as the most dangerous |
| deliberate appropriation of an individual's personal | | | | of all ID thefts that uses both social engineering |
| information to impersonate that person in a legal | | | | and technical subterfuge.Phishing can have serious |
| sense. Stealing someone's identity enables the | | | | financial consequences. In a phishing attack, the |
| thief to make a frightening number of financial and | | | | victim is sent an email that "appears" to be from |
| personal transactions in someone else's name, | | | | a bank or other financial institution. The victim is |
| leaving the victim responsible for what might turn | | | | then told to click a link and verify his/her account |
| out to be a mind-boggling turmoil in his or her life. | | | | information or supply personal identity data. The |
| The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) keeps | | | | link appears to be a legitimate site, but is in fact a |
| records on identity theft, and, not surprisingly, the | | | | scam. The moment he/she enters sensitive data, |
| number of incidents reported increase each year. | | | | the identity thief gains access to account |
| The recent identity theft statistics reveal that ID | | | | information and can empty the bank account. |
| theft affects as many as ten million Americans | | | | Phishers can also take out credit cards in the |
| each year! According to FTC's identity theft | | | | victim's name, steal ISP account information and |
| statistics, the losses to businesses and financial | | | | do other financial damage. In its latest report on |
| institutions total nearly 53 billion dollars | | | | identity theft statistics, the research group |
| annually.These identity theft statistics further | | | | Gartner says that close to 60 million Americans |
| reveal that the most common types of ID thefts | | | | reported receiving a phishing email, and 1.7 million |
| are credit card frauds, communications services | | | | people have been victims of identity theft, which |
| fraud (such as opening a cell phone or a utility | | | | cost banks and credit card companies $1.2 billion in |
| services account using someone else's | | | | losses.You must take steps to protect your |
| information), bank fraud and loan fraud. For years, | | | | account information, social security numbers, |
| the primary cause of identity theft has been good | | | | passwords, etc. Now. Always memorize and |
| old-fashioned or low-tech analog crime. | | | | shred important documents that you are |
| Impersonators rummaging though mailboxes, | | | | discarding. Don't simply throw these types of |
| snatching purses or searching the garbage for | | | | documents away!Keith Londrie II is a well known |
| discarded bank statements or credit card receipts. | | | | author. For more information on Identity Theft, |
| Rapid advances in technology have seen a plague | | | | please visit Identity Theft for a wealth of |
| of sophisticated phishing attacks. Identity theft | | | | information. |