Identity theft is one of the most insidious and frequently committed crimes of the century. Like cockroaches and rats that raid cupboards under the cover of darkness, identity thieves recklessly take for themselves what others have earned and leave a mess to be cleaned up.
Identity theft is the act of someone using another person's identity to benefit themselves directly or gain access to benefits for which they would not qualify on their own.
Identity theft can take several forms. In a typical scenario, the identity thief uses a legitimate credit card and address to establish an illegitimate line of credit and proceed to go on a shopping spree. The owner of the original card may learn of the fraud when he or she receives the bill for the shopping spree purchases.
In another scenario, an illegal immigrant might use a U.S. citizen's social security number to get on a payroll or obtain other social services. Social security numbers are gold to identity thieves because the unique nine-digit number is used for authentication purposes throughout the society.
An identity thief might use another person's identity in the commission of felonies. The person whose identity was ripped off may first learn their identity has been stolen when police show up at their door with an arrest warrant in hand. ID theft victims can find their reputations in shambles that may take months or even years to repair.
In a potentially devastating situation, the thief may use another person's ID to gain access to medical benefits. In the ensuing process, the ID thief's blood type, which may be different from the victim's, can get recorded in the victim's medical record. If the ID theft victim later requires a blood transfusion, he or she may be given the wrong type of blood. The consequences could be damaging or fatal.
One way to monitor whether or not you are a victim of ID theft is to keep track of your credit score. Your credit score, also called the FICO(r) score, is an index number used by the credit industry to evaluate a person's level of credit risk. The higher the score, the more acceptable is a person as a credit risk. Although the exact formula is not known as a matter of public knowledge, the FICO score reflects a person's ability to responsibly manage credit, as well as their debt-to-income ratio, credit-to-debt ratio, and credit history.