Identity Theft Effects

Identity theft is the process, which someone acquires another’s personal identifying information such as a driver license or Social security number to impersonate him or her and usually obtain some sort of financial gain. In 2014 17.6 million United States residents partake in being victimized by identity theft. (http://www.bjs.gov/) There are eight different types of identity theft, which include financial identity theft, insurance identity theft, medical identity theft, criminal identity theft, driver’s license identity theft, social security, identity theft, synthetic identity theft, and child identity theft. College students are exposed to identity theft due to the fact they are usually careless or oblivious of their personal information

This form of identity theft can ruin someone for life. The after effects of someone being a victim of insurance theft are very costly. Paying all the settlement payments can be tough, but it can continue to be costly due to possibly having higher insurance premiums. After being a victim of insurance theft it can be difficult to get approved for medical insurance later on. The only way to protect against this is to pertain insurance policies that cover identity theft. Something that not many people pay too much attention towards is child identity theft. Children can be a vast target for identity theft because it will usually be some time before the child or the parent looks into their credit. This leaves a good amount of time for the thief to ruin their credit and cause financial damage. For instance a kid that is 6 most likely wouldn’t look at his or her credit for at least 10 years. When the kid is of age and goes to purchase a vehicle or take out a loan they will be shocked on what is on their credit report. Because children are not knowledgeable on how valuable their personal information is and their parents have access to it, the thief’s are commonly family members or friends. Due to this the parents usually will not press charges and it just leaves the victims clueless for many

(idtheft.about.com) This is when the thief takes multiple forms of identification from different victims and combines them. The thief may take the social security number from one person, combine it with the driver license of another and use the address of a different person to make his or her own person. This will create a new identity and not affect one specific person, but all the victims that were used. Once they have all these pieces put together they can open up accounts, take out loans, pretty much anything that a normal person can do without using their own identity. There are many steps that someone can take to prevent themselves from identity theft. One of the most important steps is making sure that your social security number is always locked away somewhere and that no one know your number. Another important step is being conscious to scams over the phone and Internet. Never give your personal information to an unsolicited request. Scammers may give phone calls and send out emails with false prize winnings and request your personal information to complete the transaction. Due to the use of cell phones and computers with online shopping growing it is smart to install virus detections, and firewalls to protect credit card information from hackers. Having a complicated on all accounts can make it difficult for thieves to guess your password. Finally checking frequently on credit