Various Victimizations

There are basically six types of identity theft, though some have variations and some scams include more than one type of fraud.

The six types of identity theft are: fraud perpetrated by theft of your social security number; theft and/or unauthorized use of your credit card or credit card number; telephone fraud through unauthorized use of your cell phone; cell phone number or calling card; checking account fraud; Internet fraud; and the newest and perhaps most insidious of the types of identity theft - fraudulent identity theft prevention firms.

Perhaps the most invasive of the types of identity theft is the fraudulent acquisition and use of your social security number.

There is nothing more valuable to your personal and financial information than your Social Security number. It is the primary identification used for reporting taxes, obtaining employment, and establishing and maintaining a credit history. If a thief obtains your social security number the resulting problems for you could be very serious. With the number the thief could be hired as you, get loans in your name and open credit cards. About the only way to keep from becoming a victim of this type of identity theft is to guard your social security number stringently. Do not give it out to anyone unless you absolutely must. If a firm says they have to have your number inquire about how they are using it.

What makes this the worst of the types of identity theft is that "canceling" your old social security number by getting a new number won't solve the problem. Credit reporting bureaus will just combine the two social security number histories, and if any creditor only finds your recent history they'll be suspicious about what went before.


Read more: http://www.chicago.bbb.org/idtheft/typesof.html