The Impact of Identity Theft on a Victim

Cybercrime is increasing in skyrocketing way it is getting out of control. We are hearing about it every single day and it tough to control. There are different types of cybercrime that we hear on daily basis like Phishing, social engineering, Identity theft, malware etc. Among all this identity theft is most pervasive form of crime in 21st century Identity theft occurs when someone tries to access our personal name, social security number, debit/credit card number to commit crime or fraud activities. More than 8.4 million adults were the victim of identity theft according to research by Javelin Strategy & Research in the year 2006.

Identity theft has many impacts on the individual life but two most harmful effects from identity theft are financial harm and non-financial harm. Financial harm basically means loss of money, property. There are several types of ways in which the victim may suffer financial harm which include the misuse of social security number, debit or credit, opening new account in the bank in the name of victim, filing the tax, purchasing motor vehicles property and other valuable things in the victims fund or credit due to this victims have to spent so much money regarding this issue to get recover from this. A good real example of identity theft is an elderly woman who is suffering from dementia was victimized by her caretaker who steals almost $200,000 before she passes away. The thief not only used her credit/debit card but also opens multiple bank accounts in her name and purchase moto vehicles as well. This is one realistic example, but there are so many examples like this. Whereas, talking about nonfinancial harm, it gives so much trouble to victim to get recover of identity theft. After, misuse of their credit/debit cards social security number they have to suffer from damage of those things and even it question of their reputation. For example, even have to do multiple phone calls, writing letter to attorney , spending lot of money on and sometime if they became the victim of depression which is threating to the owns life.

The things that need to be kept in mind to be safe from identity theft completely depend on ourselves. As, social security number, debit/credit card and our personal information we should try to keep these things private. Reviewing account activities on daily basis also helps to keep us updated about our card. Minding the surrounding is absolutely necessary, while using the public Wi-Fi we have to be careful. Incase if identity theft occurs then, notifying to FTC (Federal trade commission) is very important. Likewise, to our bank if there has been a misuse of our cards and IRS if we find out fraudulent activities on social security number. These are few quick ideas to keep in mind to sort out the problem.

Overall, an identity theft can be very much destructive in the victim’s life.