Identity theft and fraud has been around since the 90’s and has raked in billion dollars for the criminal industry and although the number of identity theft has declined, you may realize that total cost to Americans have been continuously rising, in the recent years the figures as risen up to $2 billion dollars lost secondary to identity theft.

Why is that? One reason can be attributed to the popularity of America in the global arena, the country sits like a big target for the global market due to the vigorous American consumerism add to that an increasingly plastic financial system, making it an easy prey to those who wish to commit identity theft and so even as technology and industry goes global, unfortunately so does crime, with this is mind it is wise to consider an identity theft shield.

Identity Theft Shield – What It Can Do For You

Just think about it, technology makes us reachable, you can transact with someone in China while you are in America, so even as this sound good, you may also consider that identity theft is as global as well and everyone is getting in on the action. One of the most stand out case involved an Asian gang that run rampant counterfeiting credit cards even using the law on their side. A gang recruit raked in a total of $615,000 in the span of a year.

According to FTC, credit card fraud remains to be the number one culprit in identity theft even as experts predicted that credit cards would cease to exist, it remains a driving force in the financial industry. Leading one to ask, so what’s a credit card holder to do? You should protect yourself and minimize risk of credit card identity theft by getting an identity theft shield

Identity theft shield can help you protect your personal and financial records. It can help you monitor your financial activities and receive and updated credit report, enabling you to notice at the earliest stage if any fraudulent activities are happening under your account. And even if you we’re victimized by identity theft, identity theft shield can help you restore your credit reputation giving you back your good name and reputation. So even if a notorious gang like that of the Asian gang of the 1990’s re-emerge, you can feel safe and secure that even as our world remains to be a plastic economy and we be secured from the protection of an identity theft shield.

A well known computer identity theft of today is called phishing or phishing scam, true to hacker approach, phishing means, well, as it sounds like fishing, by baiting individuals to divulge personal information using two baits. The first one would be an e-mail asking you to divulge your personal data in an e-mail reply and the other one will be a bogus website that appears to be legitimate and looks exactly like the original site, that anyone can easily be fooled to believe that it is the original site.

Phishing Scam – How Does It Work?

Usually the target will receive an e-mail that seems to come from a legitimate company that you transact business with. Now you have to remember that this may look like a legitimate e-mail coming from the company. There are two ways the identity thief can con you into giving the information he needs.

One is that the e-mail will tell you that your account has been compromised or that you’re account will be closed if you do not reply, so it will ask you to reply to the e-mail with your personal information, and you, if you don’t know any better, will actually reply and send your personal information to the thief, without really realizing what you did.

The other way phishing scam works is still using e-mail, you maybe asked to click on a link that will direct you to a website, and this website will look exactly like the original site. The e-mail will ask you to visit that bogus website and confirm your account information and since the fake website looks exactly like the original one, you will innocently type in your personal details, bank account number, passwords and PIN numbers and once you’ve done this, you become the instant victim of identity theft.

When They Ran Out of Bat

Internet identity theft can work even without bait. When phishers do this, it’s called pharming. Pharming is a bit more technical than phishing since it involves installing malicious code in your computer or your network server.

The more technical way a pharmer can commit identity theft is by sending out an e-mail that can affect you even if you don’t open the attachment, this works simply by opening the e-mail, a virus will install itself on your pc, more often than not, without your knowledge. And with this malware installed, trying to visit a legitimate site will just direct you to the bogus one.