The big risk of identity theft comes with the benefits of high technology and faster communication methods to provide information. As criminals have found new ways to steal and manipulate someone’s information for their own use the number of white-collar crimes has greatly increased.  Most people are perfect candidates for identity theft, as they are not always cautious with their personal information, and gaining access to your identity has become much easier. Identity theft does not only happen to those who are too trusting and naive; anyone can find himself or herself victimized and it can lead to serious financial difficulties, even bankruptcy.

How can you protect yourself from being victimized?

Here are some of the most common ways in which thieves get access to your information. After reading this, you may realize that you have often participated in behaviors that increase your vulnerability to identity theft.

1. Phishing – a popular and effective method for stealing identities. Phishing occurs by anyone that contacts you through email to “verify” specific information related to your credit card, Paypal or bank account. Banks, and most credit card companies, will NEVER contact you over the phone or via email in order to get information about your account. They know that this is very risky.

PayPal, a subsidiary of e-Bay, is the only credit company that sends personal information via email. Still, millions of spam emails flood your inbox daily seeking this most vital information; and too often this information is handed over freely by people who believe this spam is a legitimate request.
2. Online hackers – if you are a regular on the Internet, you have likely learned more than a couple ways to protect yourself from hackers. This trend is still growing in popularity today; even though there have been advancements in computer protection, many consumers just do not apply them. You need to install firewall and virus software on all of your computers. Even a mediocre hacker can get into very secure sites, so accessing a personal computer that is running a basic Windows program is a walk in the park. If you keep important documents including your credit card or bank account information unsecured on your computer, they cannot be guaranteed as safe.

3. Credit card offers – The more credit card offers you receive, the more chance you have of being a victim. The only thing credit card companies are in business for is profit. Although they may offer protection so that they can collect a monthly fee they are not likely to give you total fraud protection.

Often, a person phishing for your information will use the tactic of telling you that you are the lucky winner of a prize. More than likely they will be super excited for you and they are very pushy about offering you the phony prize. Once you reach that level, they ask you for a bank account number to wire your winnings into. It’s easy to give your prize to a thief by providing them with the proper information. Incredibly, this still works and people have not gotten wise to it yet.

Once a credit card company receives an application containing your personal information, they will check your credit, process the application and send you the approved card shortly thereafter. It is quite simple for anyone with your personal information to request a card in your name.  You can search the web for phrases such as “opt out of credit card offers” to find reliable sources that will help you opt out of credit card offers. It can be done permanently or even part time. The “lock” icon helps you secure your information online, it indicates that the information you are supplying them with will be encrypted and protected.

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If you would like to become even more terrified of super-hackers, watch this episode of the CNBC series  American Greed.  The story of Max Butler, an Idaho native and super-hacker who became the “Mafia Don of the Digital Underground.”