Free Articles at Neutron Marketing Article Publishing and Distribution » Legal » Identity-theft » Identity Theft: The History & Current Issues Facing You
Previous Article - Three Steps to Take if You Become a Victim of Identity Theft
Next Article - Know What Identity Theft is So You Can Protect Yourself

View PDF | Print View | Html Version
by: PaulWilcox
Total views: 2
Word Count: 340

While identity theft is nothing new, thieves have been stealing innocent peoples identity throughout history. However, advances in technology have made it easier for thieves to steal information for identity thefts crimes.

In the early days in the history of identity theft the thief would usually kill the victim and assume their identity. Looking alike was only worrisome if someone had known the person since there were not too many requirements for a photo identification card.

As time progressed, thieves learned other ways to obtain information for identity theft. They could easily rummage through someones trash to find useful information to commit identity theft. Some peoples trash contained a goldmine of information for thieves such as bank statements and credit card information. Thieves could easily use this information to assume another persons identity.

Thieves then became bolder by lurking around peoples mailboxes. They would figure out on what days bank statements were delivered and steal them right out of mailboxes. This was a much more successful and cleaner way of obtaining information than going through someones trash.

Telemarketing brought another wave of criminals into the history of identity theft as they could call people telling them they won a prize or were from a charitable organization calling about a donation. When they first started it was easy to convince people to give out personal information for verification purposes and then use it to open credit card accounts, buy houses and other forms of illegal financial transactions.

Internet Opens Doors Wide For Identity Theft

When people first started conducting transaction online, criminals found a new, more convenient method of stealing an identity. When hacking into banking sites became tougher due to stricter security controls, the history of identity theft was advanced by the most basic concept ever to plague the public " greed.

One such ploy is to send fraudulent emails to individuals. These fraudulent emails look like they are from legitimate financial institutions and ask for personal information such as log in and password. Some unsuspecting individuals share their information this way, allowing identity theft to continue.

About the Author

If your kids use your computer, pop-up windows can be a big problem. In recent versions of Windows multiple user accounts can be set up to keep your information and settings separate. Find out more about stopping popups at http://www.securitymanor.com

---

Rating: Not yet rated

--Choose-- 0 1 2 3 4 5

No comments posted.

Add Comment

Enter the code shown