identity theft

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Every time you got out to your favorite store or restaurant, and you pay with your debit or credit card—your information is out there. Identity theft is a major issue and is one of the fasting growing crimes. Identity theft is defined as a form of stealing someone’s identity, where someone pretends to be someone else. This allows a thief to gain access to financial information and other confidential information. Amazingly, every nineteen minutes a person falls victim to identity theft. Identity theft has grown to 9.9 million a year. After many conducted studies, it has been shown that it is more likely for the person trying to steal your identity are the ones closest to you. This person could be a relative, a neighbor, a friend etc. It is scary to think that at this moment someone would be pretending to be you. This person could be out going on a shopping spree or even buying a Lexus? That is why it is extremely important to be cautious and aware always. It is important to be checking everything and make it a habit, like every time you get into the car you put your seat belt on!
In most cases identity theft deals with phone, utility, bank and employment fraud. Identity theft can occur in four ways. There is stealing, dumpster diving, skimming and phishing. Stealing is just when someone steals your wallet or takes important information from your wallet. Dumpster diving is when thieves scavenger into dumpsters to retrieve confidential information, like credit card statements. Skimming is when someone uses a skimmer which is a device that retrieves all the data from the magnetic strip on the credit or debit card that you use. Phishing is when an email is sent to someone pretending to be a company, asking a person to update their pas...

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...ist of problems that they have to resolve.
Identity theft is a serious growing issue in the United States. Why can’t identity theft be stopped? Too many crimes are being committed and it’s difficult to catch criminals. It would be difficult to handle cases, and over the past 5 years identity theft has increased. Most identity thefts happen over the phone or the Internet, which decreases the likeliness of the criminal being caught.
Identity theft violates our privacy in so many ways. It makes us feel violated and unsafe. Your most confidential and personal information is in the hands of someone bad. They want to make sure everything he or she does in under your name. Hopefully as Americans if we increase our awareness and be more cautious, identity theft crimes will slowly start to decrease. Identity theft is a serious issue and no one wants to be a victim of it.

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