Identity Theft
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If you remember the last time you signed up for a credit card, a sweepstakes, or mailing list, then you routinely know that the first thing you wrote down was your name. By just doing that, you could become a victim of identity theft. Not many people realize how easy it is to become a victim of this crime. It occurs when someone uses your name, address, social security number, bank or credit card account number, or other identifying information without your knowledge. Identity theft is the act of knowingly transferring or using without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of federal law. In addition, the speed and technological advances we take for granted have complicated this issue and we must recognize the magnitude in order to stop identity theft.
Identity theft is very common. Different types of fraud that are included in the identity theft crime are identification fraud; credit card fraud; computer fraud; mail fraud; wire fraud; and financial institution fraud. One of the ways this crime can occur is by assuming an identity by social security number. They then can make fraudulent credit charges, get loans, open bank accounts, write bad checks on an account, and commit crimes in a person's name...