subject: What Is Identity Theft? [print this page] What Is Identity Theft? What Is Identity Theft?
If you are wondering on what is the meaning of identity theft and how does it affect the life of the victim, here are some few things that you may want to read to know more about identity theft and its effects.
Identity theft is a term used to describe a particular cybercrime wherein a person (the thief) steals the information of the victim and then uses it for his or her personal gain. Financial information are the most common data that are being stolen.
To give you a better idea on identity theft, here is a scenario:
One day, a person logs into his computer and surfs the internet. While surfing the internet he came across this website which tells him to claim his prize because he won in an electronic raffle. But the website asks for his information such as credit card number, bank account number, and or social security number. The person then gives his personal and financial information hoping that he could really claim his "prize". Little did he know that the site was just a bogus site, in other words it is fake. A few days after, he sees his credit card statement of account with a lot of charges. He became a victim of identity theft.
Based on the example, the person enters his personal information on the website that tells him that he had won a prize. But the truth is that that website is only there to collect his financial information. The creator of that website then uses the person's credit card number to purchase things off the internet.
So the next time you use the internet, make sure to not give out your personal information to anybody who claims other things. If you are shopping online, make sure that you check the authenticity of the website wherein you enter your credit card number into. Usually, you will see a "padlock" sign as a sign that the website is secured and authenticated.
