Identity Theft
Identity theft has become one of the fastest-growing crimes in America today. Identity theft is the deliberate assumption of another individual's identity, usually to gain access to a person's finances or to frame that person for a crime.
Identity theft is primarily used to perform financial transactions (such as purchases using credit card number or take out a loan for a car) using financial accounts in your name. Less commonly, it is used to obtain medical insurance, file fraudulent tax returns, impersonate another individual during an arrest, open phone or wireless services, or even attempt blackmail.
Techniques for obtaining personal identity information range from rummaging through rubbish for documents with sensitive information, to infiltrating organizations that manage large amounts of personal information, to hacking into computer systems that store sensitive information.
Learn more about protecting yourself against identity theft >