Simplified Explanation: Identity theft is where someone takes on your identity, by stealing your personal information and social security number, and starts making financial or security related actions, as if they were you. They take on your identity.
Real Life: Think of this, you are opening your mail and it’s a stack of bills. The first one you open is for $40,000 in credit card bills, the next one is $30,000 for a new car, and the third one is $10,000 for a personal loan. The next day you receive more. You begin to call the lenders to explain there must be a mistake, but they tell you everything is legitimate. Then, a knock comes to your door and you are arrested for check fraud. Someone has taken your identity and racked up so much debt against your name. You have no way of controlling it, and what has been done to your name. Even when you try to call the lenders and explain, they don’t believe you. Then, a big one happens, and people show up to take your house, because it was sold out from under you. Now, if something like that happened, how would you feel?
According to a 2019 Identity Fraud Study, by Javelin Strategy & Research, the number of victims of identity fraud fell to 14.4 million in 2018, down from a high of 16.7 million in 2017. But, the financial burden for those in 2018 increased. 3.3 million people were made responsible for paying back part of the debt of the fraud committed against them - three times as many as in 2016, and the victims’ out-of-pocket fraud costs doubled from 2016 to 2018, to $1.7 billion. Criminals are also finding ways to overcome the authentication processes.
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