social security& identity theft
I am summarizing an article that appeared in the Hill and was written by Dave Coffey. Click here to read the complete article at The Hill.
Americans are now familiar with identity theft having experienced it themselves or know someone who has. The US is now known as the land of the free and the home of the hacked.
Federal Trade Commission has recorded that there were 3.1 million complaints received in 2015 which is a significant increase over 2014.
The major culprit identity theft these days is the use of our Social Security numbers. Social Security numbers are bought and sold on the dark web. The government has urged companies to use other ways to identify people’s identities other than the use of Social Security numbers.
With a Social Security number and identity thief can wreak habit on a person’s life. The damage identity theft and cause is immense. All the thief has to do is get a Social Security number and then use it to get a credit card in the name of that person. Then the identity thief is off and running, stealing everything a person has. Credit card companies started using a chip in their credit cards to increase the security of those cards but it’s only a partial solution. In my opinion, defensive tactics or games will not win in the long run.
Protecting oneself and one’s family from identity theft requires the control of your personal identifiers very closely. There are many services out there that will assist you in this effort. I have my favorite others have theirs.
Contact me to learn more about how to protect your identity, tom@trholthus.com.
2 comments
Those are some startling statistics Thomas. Thanks for sharing!
Good information Tom. Someone tried to us my SSN to access my potential tax refund two years in a row.