IDENTITY THEFT

Identity Theft

Identity Theft

Introduction

Identity Theft victims are not only victimized by person stealing their identity, but are often victims of poor service and consideration by credit bureaus and investigating police departments as they try to restore their lives. When your identity is stolen, it also affects your credit report. Identity Thieves often steal your information with intent of opening new credit accounts in your name, but have no intention of paying those bills. Opening of these new credit accounts is going to affect your credit. Even more serious is that some of those outstanding bills may go into collection. Victims of Identity Thieves often do not realize that their identity was has been stolen, until they attempt to purchase the car or the home. They find out they can't purchase these things because their credit has been ruined.

Thesis Statement

How identity theft affects your life can be the scary thing. Whatever way in which identity theft occurs, impact can be big. One thing that all victims of Identity Thieves agree upon is that it makes you feel vulnerable. Having your identity stolen is the personal violation for most people, because their private information has been accessed and used without their permission.

Analysis

Identity theft may not just affect financial aspect of your life, it can also affect your personal life in other ways. Some criminals steal other people's identity so that they can commit crimes under somebody else's name. When someone commits the crime under your name, it can affect your chances of getting any job that requires the security clearance or the clean police record. Even worse, you may be arrested for crimes that thief committed. Until everything is straightened out, you could wind up sitting in jail for an extended period of time. Identity theft can also affect your medical history. An identity thief, using your identity, may seek treatment at the local hospital. This may result in the large number of unpaid medical bills to deal with. The increase in use of medical services may also cause your health insurance rates to increase. In addition, when people are treated using your identity, their medical history and/or conditions may be merged with yours. If it is minor stuff, such as burns or colds, it won't affect your health records much. On other hand, if they are diabetic, have AIDS, have cancer, or any other serious medical condition, that can have the large impact on your health costs(Hoofnagle, 2005).

Identity Theft can affect your entire life, from your financial health to your medical health. The best way to prevent this from happening is to learn how to prevent theft in first place. Understanding things that might damage your credit will help you when it's time to do some credit repair. With current state of economy, many people find themselves in situations that have put their credit at risk. From job loss to foreclosure, there are many things that can change once-exemplary credit. One of biggest problems that can cause permanent damage to ...