Victimized by Identity Theft

When a person is victimized by identity theft the person becomes a lifetime victim, simply put because regardless of how many times the law tells you they are working to resolve the problem, they are lying. As a victim of identity theft when I reported the second offense against me, the police ask few questions and gave me a report number with no other action behind it. I contacted the Federal Trade Commissions, reported the crime, and have heard nothing and to date (since 2000) the perpetrator is still active.

Once I contacted the credit bureaus they did nothing to remove the charges against me, rather they merely placed a resolved or other related comment behind the debt. Other people have suffered far more severe attacks on their life, including summoned to court for debts they never could have made. The people lived in one area of the world, while the perpetrator was acting in another area. It is pathetic that we as the victims must suffer the loss of our lives while few are taking the stand to stop the crimes.

In most instances of identity, theft if a company is not involved and reports the crime a single individual's will fall into the large group of people in society without receiving help from anyone. Often victims' of identity theft are denied credit and find it difficult to survive once the credit reports are affected. Some states permit freezing of the credit reports, which should be permitted in all states, since it denies anyone the right to review the credit reports, except the person that has the right ownership. Most states allow Fraud Alerts up to three months and sometimes permanently, however this only makes the victim look bad since nothing is removed from the reports.

Thus, identity theft is ongoing and it is up to us to protect our self from theft. It is difficult since technology advancements have proven to make it easier for thieves to gain access to nearly anyone's identity. The government has high-tech developments that protect their databases; however, identity thefts have proven that even this level of technology will not stop them.

New credit cards are developed that have chips in them that is supposedly sophisticated enough to prevent or slow theft, however thieves are far more advanced in most instances and accepts the challenge going above and beyond the chips. The World Wide Web is the single more convenient area where identity thieves frequent and often they use programs designed that are suppose to ward off hackers, crackers, spies and other harmful critters, however, the development has only made it convenient for the thieves to get in the doors to thousands of computers. Again, in 2004, more than eleven million people alone became victims of identity theft, and the majority of crimes committed were done abroad the Internet.

Some cases of identity theft report turned out to be neighbors, friends, and even family members. One case reported came from England when a couple moved to the states and when they left they learned that their identity was robbed of them, which led them to pain and suffering for years. The couple unfortunately received little if any help and were sent summons to appear in court for debts they did not initiate. Creditors and financial lenders often think of identity theft as an escape goat for people to get out of debt, and the victim is left standing even if there is concrete evidence showing that the person did not authorize the debts.

This leaves us all in a shamble; since we have to do everything, we can to avoid identity theft. If it was up to me, I'd say get rid of the credit cards and other materials that have potential links to thieves, however nowadays if you do not have a credit card you are basically considered an outcast. We live in a stereotyped, uncultured world where too many judges and assumers control the environment, thus think like a criminal and protect your self from everyone, including creditors, cops, lawyers, government officials and so forth to win the horrific increasing rates of identity theft victims.

Tony Robinson is an International Author, Webmaster and Security Guru. Check out his Identity Theft Protection Tips at http://www.officialidentitytheft.com/