Identity Theft- Protect yourself Now Before it is Too Late!

Identity theft is a huge problem and as the economy has gotten worse so has identity theft. There has never been a time when it was more important to protect yourself from identity theft than now.

You may be wondering how you can protect yourself but first I think you should understand How bad identity theft has really become.

Here are some scary facts about identity theft - what is now the fastest-growing crime in the nation:
· There have been over 9 million victims a year for two years running
(Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, January 2005)

· Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to FTC five years in a row
(Federal Trade Commission, National and State Trends in Fraud and Identity Theft, February 1, 2005)
??????· Identity theft has claimed over 30 million victims in past five years
(Federal Trade Commission, 2003 and Better Business Bureau, 2005)

WOW! Identity theft has become a nationwide problem with millions of victims of all ages.

Here is a fact that will probably surprise you. In 2003, nearly 7 million people became victims of identity theft in the previous 12 months. That breaks down to around 19,178 per day, 799 per hour, and 13.3 per minute.

It is a fact, according to the US Department of Justice, that drug trafficking is now being replaced by identity theft as the number one crime. This affects all of us in one way or another.

Either you, or someone you know becomes a victim of identity theft.
AND, identity theft causes stores and credit card company to raise prices and their rates, respectively.

So what does this mean? We all pay for identity theft in some way so we all need to protect ourselves and our loved ones and we need to be sure to report as soon as possible anyone that we suspect of trying to steal someone’s identity.

Although identity theft scams most often happen over the phone you need to be careful where-ever you are. They could contact you online, over the phone or even come to your door.

Be sure to provide the police with any pertinent information that you may have. Time, location, what the person looked like, sounded like, caller id information, what type of vehicle-kind, color, year, distinguishing marks on the person or their vehicle, etc.

For many people it will probably take hundreds of hours, and an average of $1,000, just to recover from ID theft. Even worse is that in some innocent victims have ended up in prison because identity thieves have been committing crimes in their names. Thus, the victim then ends up being victimized twice.

Now hopefully this has shown you why identity theft prevention is so important. We want to help you to protect yourself from this awful nightmare. We have an excellent resource to help you to protect yourself so that you never need worry about becoming a victim of identity theft. Find out about the different ways that these scammers will use to steal your identity and how you can protect yourself from them.

Now, if you would like to find out more about how identity thieves can steal your identity from you in the first place then please send a blank email to .
identity-theft-facts@freeautobot.com