Identity Theft on Computers - Issues and Solutions

Stealing someone’s identity is also a form of theft known as identity theft. In this a person pretends like someone else and tries to get all the benefits of his name, like his account, credit card etc. The person whose identity has been stolen may suffer from worst conditions due to this. One can call it as identity theft when one uses others information like name, PAN card number or other social security numbers  without the consent of the person for committing crimes and fraud.

According to the reports of the FTC, to determine whether it is identity theft or not is very hard and challenging and the victim mostly do not know how his information went out.

Thefts in cyber world

Along with the development of computer and internet, committing frauds and crimes have become easy. A person from fraud web site mostly claim to be IRS agent or from reputed banks and the poor people, who are actually innocent are spindled by them.

They give them their identity and credits as well and the crook takes just seconds to clean their accounts in the bank. It is very disappointing that most of the people put themselves into their web without even knowing about the risk.  In the cyber world hackers are using malicious software to commit identity theft.

It occurs mostly when you put your PC on sale or have discarded the PC without destroying the hard drives. You might get surprised to know that some of the things remain in the memory even when you have deleted them yourself. The criminal minds use these small mistakes of yours and make money by assuming your identity.

Criminals can use your credit account, may open new account on your name, and may take mobile or any wireless service for using them in other crimes. They can even take loan on big items, which you may have to repay afterwards.

Solutions

It is very sad to know that criminal minds are far better skilled than you to operate computers. So, you can follow some of the steps to protect yourself from being a victim of identity theft. Before selling the computer always remove the hard drive from it. There are certain things, which you should delete individually.

It may be hard and time taking task, but protection is the foremost. All the email contacts, messages, word document files, recycle bin folder, internet search history, cache of web browser, non- transferable software must be deleted individually. One can protect himself by never using the real name on social networking sites. Children are first victims of these criminals. Take care of following:-

Contact the fraud department of any one of the companies for consumers.

Make sure that you get alerts about your credits.

Make sure that you always sign out or log off from the mailbox.

Whenever you are buying anything from online shopping malls, take care that they are secured websites.

Always update the antivirus

Never save any personal or financial information on laptops.