Identity Theft Spreading Fast Worst Than A Case Of The Flu!

Identity theft is escalating at a torrid pace.

The Bad News: It has become one of the country’s top problems. The bad guys are finding more ways to steal YOUR and MY identity.

The good news:

You can take control of the situation, become both reactive and proactive guarding yourself against identity theft.

# 1. let’s understand just how bad identity theft has become in this country: The amount of goods and services purchased with fraudulently obtained personal identity exceeded 52-billion dollars in 2004. The Federal Trade Commission says that there is an underground market for credit card numbers, social security numbers and ID documents – organized gangs or web mobs use and sell these documents for as little as $10 each. Some of these groups contain thousands of members.

· The cost is estimated to be six-point-four billion per year. US Department of Justice states identity theft is affecting millions of households in the U.S. each year. According to the FTC, an estimated 10 million adults become victims of identity theft each year.

· Next in line were banking and other types of accounts at 25 percent, personal information was 15 percent, and a combination of several types of identity theft was at 12 percent.The Department of Justice goes on to say that the most common misuse of identity was through credit cards, accounting for 50 percent of all identity theft. The average loss for each identity theft was $1,290.00. Two-thirds of those surveyed said the theft cost them money despite credit card coverage.

· The report also shows consumers face a one-in-three chance of becoming a "cyber victim" about the same as last year. It goes on to say that consumers lost $630 million over the past two years to e-mail scams. A recent State of the Net survey by Consumer Reports which covered more than 2000 households with Internet Access projects that American consumers lost more than eight-billion dollars over the last two years to viruses, spyware and various scams.

· It’s getting worse as computers become more complex and as we do more with them. The average person today suffers through two or more "incidents" with their computer each year - the computer slows to a crawl, crashes altogether, viruses or spyware take over systems and more.

So, Who Is At Risk For Identity Theft?

According to the Department of Justice there are three groups that are most at risk for identity theft: young adults 18 to 24, adults who earn $75,000 per year or more and households in urban .

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Rosemarie Grabowski
PC Security & Identity
Theft Protection
308 687 6085

http://personalidentitytheft.blogspot.com/