Identity Theft Insurance

The Bad News: Identity theft is escalating at a torrid pace. It has become one of the country’s top problems. The bad guys are finding more ways to steal YOUR identity.(identity theft insurance)

The Good News: You can take control of the situation, become both reactive and proactive guarding yourself against identity theft.

Identity Theft Is Spreading Faster Than The Worst Case Of The Flu!

 First, let’s understand just how bad identity theft has become in this country:

· The Federal Trade Commission says that there is an underground market for credit card numbers, social security numbers and ID documents – organized gangs or web mobs use and sell these documents for as little as $10 each. Some of these groups contain thousands of members. The amount of goods and services purchased with fraudulently obtained personal identity exceeded 52-billion dollars in 2004.

· US Department of Justice states identity theft is affecting millions of households in the U.S. each year. The cost is estimated to be six-point-four billion per year. According to the FTC, an estimated 10 million adults become victims of identity theft each year.

· The Department of Justice goes on to say that the most common misuse of identity was through credit cards, accounting for 50 percent of all identity theft. Next in line were banking and other types of accounts at 25 percent, personal information was 15 percent, and a combination of several types of identity theft was at 12 percent. The average loss for each identity theft was $1,290.00. Two-thirds of those surveyed said the theft cost them money despite credit card coverage.

· A recent State of the Net survey by Consumer Reports which covered more than 2000 households with Internet Access projects that American consumers lost more than eight-billion dollars over the last two years to viruses, spyware and various scams. The report also shows consumers face a one-in-three chance of becoming a “cyber victim” about the same as last year. It goes on to say that consumers lost $630 million over the past two years to e-mail scams.

· The average person today suffers through two or more “incidents” with their computer each year - the computer slows to a crawl, crashes altogether, viruses or spyware take over systems and more. It’s getting worse as computers become more complex and as we do more with them.

So, Who Is At Risk For Identity Theft?

 According to the Department of Justice there are three groups that are most at risk for identity theft: young adults 18 to 24, adults who earn $75,000 per year or more and households in urban and suburban area. Interesting to note that about five percent of adults who earn $75,000 or more a year are hit with identity theft.

 The continued growth of online fraud and identity theft are putting an enormous strain on the existing infrastructure for the Internet as well as our social structure. For example, the banking community has been complacent about security upgrades required by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

 They report that every bank in the country has not complied with their guidelines set for now. In an article titled, “U.S. Banks Complacent Toward Identity Theft Solution,” by PR Web, the single largest national security threat is a terrorist attack on our banking system.

 An attack aimed simultaneously at millions of user names and passwords within banks would shut down our banking system. This would instantly shut down banks worldwide. Credit/debit cards, checks, calls to the bank, would not work for at least a matter of days causing tremendous hardship and a ripple effect from no gas to “I simply have to take this baby food.” 

  Consider for a moment some of the potential social effects from this identity theft problem. What if citizens developed a lack of confidence in our credit card and monetary system causing economic upheaval similar to what we saw in the “Great Depression?”

  I know this sounds radical, but what if you couldn’t trust your identity to anyone anymore? What if you feared that your money, your identity was going to be stolen? It’s not unthinkable that you would store your money under your mattress at home or in a safe in the closet rather than possibly losing it to identity theft.

  If millions of people lost faith in our monetary system and the ability to keep their identity safe and then took all of their money home where they believe it would be safe, what would happen then?

 We generally can’t control what happens outside of our personal environment, what happens at a bank, corporation or the government seems so far out of reach. There are, however, steps that we can take that will give us a better chance of protecting our personal information. The first step is identifying the threats and then taking steps to protect ourselves.

Below, I have identified nine identity theft threats and nine steps to protect our identity in today’s society.