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Identity Theft:
Guard against a
growing threat
Do you have a twin? Not the kind who shares your looks and borrows your clothes. This one shares your social security number and borrows your credit cards. Then this scam artist swells your credit card debts, depletes your bank account, exploits your good name and severely erodes your economic strength and standing.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Office of Consumer Affairs says this alarming situation is called identity theft, one of today’s fastest-growing crimes.
Identity theft occurs when someone - without your knowledge or permission - uses your name, along with your personal and financial information, to commit theft or fraud when making purchases, opening credit card accounts, obtaining loans or executing many other possible transactions. In 2005, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 250,000 complaints about identity theft from people across the U.S. That number includes 5,163 Virginians whose complaints cited fraud related to credit cards (31%), phone or utilities (19%), banking (16%), employment (6%), government documents or benefits (6%) and loans (6%), as the most significant categories.
92.7%