Identity theft is among the most insidious crimes out there because the time, money, and effort it takes to undo the damage is inversely proportionate to the time, money, and effort it took the thief to do the stealing in the first place.  Statistics indicated that it could take upwards of a year to correct a simple fraudulent account.  Thieves do anything from “shoulder surfing” to stealing a wallet, to going through garbage in the search for an unshredded credit offer to make off with the victim’s identity.  The government got involved with this relatively new kind of crime when it tapped the Federal Trade Commission to be the guardian of the public.  The Federal Trade Commission, which was founded as an agency to “protect the American consumer,” has come up with a complex, but easy to follow plan of education, protection, and action.  There are a number of ways to prevent identity theft from happening in the first place.  The old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” And how right it is!  Simply preventing your identity from being stolen is the hands-down winner for avoiding the nightmare of fixing the situation once it has been stolen.  However, victims should take solace in knowing that they have help, and a plan of action to put into motion once they realize what has happened.  The Federal Trade Commission strongly urges the involvement of as many law enforcement agencies as possible.  Because of lack of education, or manpower, or funding, et cetera, some local law enforcement agencies are not willing or able to file a report when it comes to identity theft.  If the victim finds that to be true, the Federal Trade Commission is ready with yet another plan of action.  Check out the following website for additional information:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/defend.html#Whattodoidtoverinternet

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.