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