Identity Theft

We live in a world where most people have heard the warnings that you should be careful with who you give out your personal information to. You do not want just anyone having access to your address and definitely don't want to post your credit card information anywhere where someone dishonest might see it. And while you have heard the warnings and likely do what you can to protect yourself, you might not fully understand what identity theft is and how it can happen to you.

Identity theft is described as any circumstance when someone uses your personal information and represents themselves as you without your permission or knowledge. This might mean that someone is going around to all of the shops in real estate buying things with your credit card number or could mean that someone has stolen your Social Insurance Number and is using that for their own purposes.

There are a few different ways that people might get a hold of this information and take advantage of you. Some might go through your trash or a dumpster to see if they can find any receipts or banking paperwork that might have a useful number on it while others will skim your bank card when you use it at an ATM to get cash out for a vinyl wrap from Street Stars Customes (see some examples). There are also those that go into your computer as a virus or spam looking for personal information. You might even find that personal information is at risk if you fail to update your current address after you move.

In this day and age it is much easier for criminals to get a hold of the information they want to take advantage of you. They can even commit identity theft to your accounts while they are across the world in Japan or Africa, for example. This is why it is so important to be aware of where they might find this information and keep your accounts as secure as possible. You should protect your cards and any physical paperwork as well as what is stored on your computer and other electronic devices. While there are protections against identity theft when it comes to credit cards, you still want to make sure that you're the only one that is using your information when it comes to bank accounts.

How Can You Prevent Identity theft?