New and Old Identity Theft
By Fred Jones
The development of internet is no doubt the greatest development of the century. People can now share and find information they need right in front of their computer at home. Internet, or the sea of information as some people would call it, holds massive amount of information and data from all over the world, written and shared by many different people. The internet provides a lot of information to make people's lives easier and more productive, including those who use the information in an un-lawful manner. With the surplus of information, it is now as easy as ever to get your identity stolen by the common con-artists.
Too much of anything can lead to a bad result, and in this case, too much information is now helping con-artists to steal your identity. Their old method of digging through trash for credit card numbers, bank accounts, and even social security numbers thrown away is now being used in a more technological way. Back then, the con-artists used these numbers to make a new credit card or even opening up a loan. Now, they search through the data called cookies in a computer to find account ID and passwords to access someone's information. With the information, they can not only ruin your credit to get money, but there were even some cases where it has ruined people's reputation by sending spam e-mails through someone's email account.
Do not be afraid, there are certain measures to be taken to prevent these scams. Like the cross-shredding of important documents, such as bank statements and other financial documents, there are ways to prevent identity theft online. People should still request free credit reports annually to see if there are some irregularities, even new credit card accounts or loans opened under your identity.
The first and the most important step to prevent identity is through secure passwords. Use a strong password, with both letters and numbers mixed in together and it should be more than 8 characters to be safe. Some people go to the extreme to change their passwords every five to ten days, but it is safe to do so every three months. Try making them the not so obvious ones such as birthdays or even worse, your social security number. There are hackers working together with the con-artists today so, try to make it more difficult for them to figure out your password. And lastly, make different passwords for different accounts so if someone figures one out, you are safe on the other ones.
The usual "read all the text" applies in online businesses as well. Since it costs less than $50 to make a website, it becomes easier to set up a very convincing website to obtain your information. So make sure to do some research on a search engine about opinions about that website since some people might post their experience with the site. Well, you can never be too safe, so make sure to research, and even some websites that help you protect yourself, such as identitytheft.com, so make use of your resources and safe surfing.
About the author
Fred Jones
ID Theft from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com
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