preview

Informative Essay On Identity Theft

Decent Essays

I have a scenario that many people go through every year. You receive a phone call from your credit company talking about your bill. They tell you that there was a suspicious purchase on your account that you don’t remember making. Most likely, you have become the most recent victim of a large, dark, and superfluous business known as identity theft. Identity theft takes a substantial amount of money away from many Americans each year, so what are you supposed to do? What even is identity theft? How can we protect ourselves? Should we better our security? All these questions have answers, so let’s start listing the solutions. Let’s protect our identities for decades to come! Identity theft causes lots of problems with this illegal business, …show more content…

What is identity theft? Furthermore, what damage does it cause? Identity theft is the robbery of another person’s important information. Usually, thieves use this information to withdraw money from your accounts, gain access to important accounts, or to take advantage of other people. Identity thieves can strike by doing something as simple as looking over your shoulder or as complicated as hacking into websites that have your information like Facebook or Equifax. Speaking of Equifax, you might’ve heard about how Equifax was hacked recently, giving those hackers tons of personal and financial information about you and your accounts. Thieves can be anyone that will or has had access to your credit card in some way, shape, or form. Many people have had their credit card information stolen from people in retail jobs, of all places, since you can give people your credit card to make purchases. In 2012 alone, 16.5 million Americans had some form of identity theft occur in their accounts. That’s quite frightening, especially since that means that 5% of the people in the United States were robbed of their identities that year, and with the technological advancements that are being developed, that means that number could be growing at an alarming rate! However, there are quite a few ways to protect yourself. So how can you tell you’ve been robbed and what can you do to protect

Get Access