| Identity theft crimes are not new, but they have | | | | protection. Never write down personal identification |
| become more persuasive in the past decade. One of | | | | numbers (PINs) or passwords. Do not use your Social |
| the most insidious forms of white-collar crime, identity | | | | Security number or any such easy-to-guess |
| theft is a federal offense under the Identity Theft | | | | combinations. Avoid using the same password for |
| and Assumption Deterrence Act. It occurs when | | | | different accounts.b) Effective identity theft |
| someone deliberately assumes an individual's personal | | | | protection is now a necessary part of doing business |
| identity to impersonate that person in a legal sense. | | | | on the web. Therefore, when ordering online, it is |
| Stealing someone's identity enables the thief to make | | | | preferable to use PayPal, instead of credit or debit |
| a frightening number of financial and personal | | | | cards, because of the propinquity with which these |
| transactions in someone else's name, leaving the | | | | cards give an imposter access to the cash in your |
| victim responsible for what might turn out to be a | | | | bank account.c) Another good practice for identity |
| mind-boggling turmoil in his or her life. | | | | theft protection delineates that before purchasing |
| Someone once said, "The devil is in the details, and | | | | online make sure that the site has a secure server. |
| the truth lies somewhere in between". Details such as | | | | Secure pages begin with https instead of http, with a |
| your name, age, sex, physical description, mailing | | | | picture of a lock appearing in the lower right status |
| address, Social Security, and driver license number | | | | bar. To verify the name of the server that appears |
| are everything a swindler needs to create your | | | | on the digital certificate, double-click the lock icon, and |
| shadow identity, enabling him to buy merchandise, | | | | then check the name that appears next to "Issued |
| take loans and make other financial transactions, | | | | to", if the name appearing next to "Issued to" is |
| while you get stuck with the bad credit. The old | | | | different from the name of the site that you thought |
| X-Files motto "Trust No One" is especially meaningful | | | | provides the page, close the browser to leave the |
| for identity theft protection on the web. You must | | | | site.d) Be sure to shred all documents that have |
| learn to depend on yourself for identity theft | | | | important information on them such as account |
| protection and minimize your risk by performing the | | | | numbers, social security numbers, etc. Do not simply |
| following tasks:a) Memorize your passwords. This is | | | | discard this information into the trash. |
| the most basic requirement for identity theft | | | | |