What is Identity Theft?

When someone else uses your personal information to secure a job, get a credit card or loan, or elude law enforcement -- that's identity theft.  This very personal crime has become one of the most damaging assaults on the lives of an ever-growing number of Americans.  Each year, over 10 million people fall victim to this insidious assault on consumers' personal, professional, financial and emotional lives (www.ftc.gov).

Since 2002, ID theft has been cited as the top consumer complaint (www.ftc.gov).  With costs to victims, businesses and the economy running in the billions of dollars each year, ID theft is a national crisis.  A 2003 ID Theft Resource Center study finds the average cost to victims is $90,000 -- not to mention over 600 hours devoted to mitigating the damage caused by this crime. 

Personal information can be gleaned from everywhere: employment files; government files; church files; credit files; dishonest merchants; banks -- the list is almost endless.  With data as simple as your name and birth date (not to mention your Social Security number), identity thieves are capable of doing almost anything in your name:

• Getting a credit card, or securing a car or home loan;
• Pretending to be you when arrested or sued;
• Opening fraudulent cell-phone, utility or bank accounts;
• Getting a job using your identifying information;
• Getting a fake Social Security card with your number and their name;
• Filing false tax returns;
• Giving false medical billing information;
• Signing residential leases in your name;
• Committing security and investment fraud;
• Falsifying U.S. resident legal status;
• Obtaining government services while pretending to be you;
• Fraudulently obtaining passports, driver licenses or other government documents.

With so many ways to be victimized by the crime of identity theft, it's no surprise how enormous the problem has become -- and how fast it grows in terms of breadth, scope, and cost.