Crime never pays, but that is not deterring criminals from coming up with new and easy ways to swindle or con people. A few years ago, like how progress was deterred due to the lack of communication, so was crime. However, with the world on the verge of becoming a global village, even the grimy hands of crime can reach places which were unknown and unheard of a few years ago. Sadly, the reach of the Internet is being used for scrupulous as well as unscrupulous means. Identity theft is just one of these cyber crimes prevalent today.

What is Identity Theft Anyway?
Identity theft has been around since a long time. However, with the advent of internet, Identity theft has become just a bit easier. Any crime that involves an individual impersonating another individual can be termed as Identity theft. While Identity theft crimes are a bit difficult to successfully carry out in the real world, they are just a matter of some specific information divulged to these criminals when it comes to online identity theft. The simplest ways one can fall prey to identity theft over the Internet is the email and chat software.

Types of Identity Thefts
There are a few types of identity thefts. They can be broadly categorized into the reason that the identity theft was carried out. Common among them are the Financial Identity Theft, where individuals have their identities compromised by others for financial gain, like Credit Card theft and Criminal Identity theft, where individuals assume another identity to cover their tracks or when they are about to be or even apprehended for a crime. In other instances, individuals commit identity theft assume an alibi or alias, commonly known as identity cloning and any business or commercial identity related thefts carried out to achieve financial goals.

Identity Theft Prevention
Identity theft can happen to anyone at any time. However, there are some precautions that one can take to prevent themselves from just being another statistic in the already rising figures pertaining to identity theft. The best way, is of course, to take extra care of all documents, online and offline, pertaining to one’s identity. It would be good if you actually keep all such documents in a safe place, even preferably a bank locker. People who have to make a lot of copies and submit documents pertaining to their identity should ensure that their documents are going to the right people and the right place.
Online, one should make it a point never, ever, to give out any of their passwords or personal information to anyone over the Internet. One should also avoid sending any password or personal information over software like instant messaging or chat. Even e-mail is not as safe as it seems when it comes to passing out any personal information.
Simply put, one should simply take more care about their personal identities and especially if they are on the Internet.

Here are some important Don’ts one should follow while handling their identities online:
Do Not:

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 7:07 am and is filed under Identity Theft Protection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.