This past week, my Money & Markets column was devoted to identity theft, and ways to protect yourself from it. I noted that thieves could do a lot of different things with your information, including renting apartments.
And now, this story from CNN really brings home my point. As it notes:
“The Federal Trade Commission reported that approximately 50,000 taxpayers complained about tax fraud and employment-related identity theft during 2006, compared with 18,000 in 2002.”
The article goes on to talk about identity thieves reporting income under other social security numbers, as well as collecting refunds and stimulus checks destined for their victims.
Again, while it’s never possible to protect yourself 100% from ID theft, there are simple steps you can take to lessen your risk. So please do so!
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I’ve been approached both via email and telephone and regular mail at least 20 times this last 12 months from scammers and fraudsters trying to get my ID with one story or another. I have warned my wife and son to be very very careful who they give their personal information to. People, let’s be careful out there.
Wow, the clan Vrozos is really surprised that there are not more people commenting on this growing major problem. George Vrozos who has a friend who works at VISA says it is a very serious problem and that is why they’re going to embedded chips in all credit cards by October 2010. Furthermore, all merchants must comply with readable machines or they will not be insured. I know it doesn’t fit with the tax story but it is parallel. Johnathan Vrozos.
Nilus Mattive Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Yes, I absolutely agree … it is a major financial problem! Unfortunately, I think most people follow the ‘it won’t happen to me’ mentality and choose to ignore the real risks.