The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ latest report shows an alarming increase in female identity theft victims. Not only has the total number of individuals who have gotten their identity stolen gone up since 2012, but women are experiencing the crime at about a 19% higher rate than men.
Some of the reasons may include that, as the primary spender in a household, there may be more opportunities to steal credit card data, banking account information, or other pieces of info that may allow someone to steal an identity. ID thieves generally pick the easiest targets, opting to spend their time getting the “low hanging fruit” as opposed to using sophisticated hacking techniques like you might see in Hollywood.
For most people, taking a few basic steps to control identity theft can go a long way in making sure that it doesn’t happen to them.
Shred financial documents instead of just throwing them away
Only shop on trusted websites (Amazon, Walmart.com, etc.)
Be careful who gets your SSN – Job applications can be collected and sold by an unscrupulous HR employee in any type of firm and it will usually include your social security number along with all the other information needed to steal your identity.
Watch your credit – A credit tracker can let you know whenever something pops up on your credit report, giving you a chance to review it to see whether or not it is legitimate or someone trying to steal your ID.
Following the above steps and keeping an eye on your credit (Credit Sesame sends you email alerts and shows your credit score) should reduce the chances that you become an identity theft victim.
_rice on April 25th, 2017 at 16:30 UTC »
hmm weird, the actual data shows about a 10% difference not 19%. http://imgur.com/a/ZV5vu .
Most cases of identity theft arent targetted either. Just people buying bulk collections of leaked personal data and seeing if people have re-used the password for other sites. Remind people to periodically check their emails on https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and tell them they shouldn't reuse passwords that have been leaked.
Salesman89 on April 25th, 2017 at 15:21 UTC »
Women make up something like 60 to 70 percent of all personal purchases in the US. I imagine some of that spending is done online..
Turkeyburgerfries on April 25th, 2017 at 14:04 UTC »
People who steal identities deserve way more time in prison than thy usually get. Someone claimed my tax return a few years ago and they caught the guy. He had done it to a few other people as well.
12 months probation. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I heard about that slap on the wrist.