What is Identity Theft?

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What is Identity Theft?

by | Oct 18, 2022

Last Updated:
Nov 3, 2022

What exactly is Identity Theft?

The name says it all—while identity theft itself is a relatively broad term, it’s used to denote the act of stealing an individual’s personal information without their consent or acknowledgement, typically resulting in unlawful financial gain.

Identity theft is one of, if not the largest, contributor to cyber-crime considering a majority of all fraud and scams start with a stolen email/name/address or other form of identifying information. Individual identity theft attacks are just the beginning—

  • Businesses
  • Properties
  • Taxes
  • Phones and other devices

—Are only some of out assets that the bad guys try to target using our data.

In today’s digital age, there are limitless ways criminals can get their hands on our information. Nearly 33% of all Americans have faced some kind of identity theft attempt in their lives, and that’s only a number created from reported cases. Our information is used as a form of currency for criminals, with social security numbers selling for as little as $4 dollars on the dark web.

It’s not really a question of IF your information has been collected, but WHEN due to the number of massive data breaches occurring every year. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s data breach report, in 2021, there were more data compromises reported in the United States of America than in any year prior.

The cost of Identity Theft

Just how much money is stolen as a result of identity theft? It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number, considering the amount of cases that go undocumented, but it’s estimated that over $5.9 billion dollars were lost to fraudulent activity in 2021 alone.

Sadly, the financial loss is only one side of being a victim. The stress of dealing with a compromised identity can weigh heavily on an individual, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness.

Now more than ever, it’s essential to understand how to not only prevent identity theft, but what it takes to recover from it as well.

How can you help to REDUCE your risk?

The key word here being REDUCE. It’s impossible to completely prevent all types of identity theft; however, knowing some basic cyber-security tips can help to minimize your exposure.

  1. Be careful what you post online. Criminals, just like everyone else have access to information you have publicly, and sometimes even privately available.
  2. Use unique passwords with a minimum of 12 characters (letters, numbers and symbols) and change them often, minimum every year for your important accounts
  3. Don’t hesitate to question suspicious emails/text/etc. If you do suspect something to be a scam, don’t click on any links or download any files.
  4. Monitor your banking credit card statements every month.  If you detect suspicious activity notify the bank or credit card company first by phone, then follow up in writing.
  5. Active a credit freeze for the three major bureaus, as well as the other minor bureaus that offer it. Let us show you how to activate your freezes here.

Want more tips on how to protect yourself? Visit

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