Originally published July 15 2005
Explaining identity theft
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In an effort to deal with several misconceptions about identity theft, Wire News posted answers to common questions. For example, identity theft is not simply when a thief steals your credit card. Identity theft is usually when perpetrators steal your information into order to apply for new credit cards under your name.
Most credit card thieves still get information the old-fashioned way -- by stealing a purse or wallet, sifting through documents in a mailbox or Dumpster or skimming cards.
Skimming occurs when employees in retail business or restaurants, for example, swipe credit cards twice -- once using their employer's credit card reader and a second time using their own reader.
Insider theft also occurs when employees of companies or agencies that process documents containing Social Security numbers and other sensitive data steal it.
If you lose your purse or wallet or someone steals them, you may see fraudulent activity appear on your monthly credit card statement.
But you may not know if a thief has stolen your identity and applied for new credit accounts in your name.
That's because monthly account statements will likely be mailed to the thief's address or a post office box.
You'd discover the problem the next time you tried to rent an apartment, buy a car or apply for a credit card or loan and got turned down due to a bad credit rating caused by unpaid credit card charges racked up by the thief.
Federal law limits a cardholder's liability on fraudulent charges to $50.
You can extend the alert to seven years, but only if you've been a victim of identity theft and can provide a police report.
Look for requests from companies you haven't done business with and tell credit-reporting agencies if you see credit accounts that you didn't open or debts you didn't incur.
Phishing occurs when someone sends you an e-mail purporting to be from your bank or other company you do business with and requesting you to update your account information.
Some states only let victims of identity theft freeze their records.
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