Identity theft is the unlawful usage of a person's identifies to gain access to their personal information, such as social security, credit card information and date of birth. Individuals should be extremely cautious and concerned about identity theft. Eventually with the proper help victims can clear their names and credit history, however the process can be frustrating and costly. For example college students like myself, who may be starting a career or applying for college loans identity theft can have a negative be effect because of the impact on credit records. For other another individuals it can have a negative effect on loans opportunities, credit cards and job applications. The solution to identity theft is simple. Credit agencies need to tighten up their internal handling of credit information, also notifying individuals when new credit lines are open or personally information such as address or phone numbers has been recently changed. For this paper I interviewed a few individuals that I know personally that were victims of identity theft. In the interviews I asked questions on how it happened, the result of it happening, how they recovered and most importantly can we prevent it. There are several solutions to identity theft maybe there should be a daily withdrawal limit on a credit and debit cards, or large transactions should be delayed for a period of time until the transaction is verified by the cardholder. Credit card account should be more difficult to apply for than simply filling in a bunch of information on a form. .
Introduction.
How would you feel if you knew, at this moment, a criminal is filling out a credit card applications and using your personal information such as, address, and social security number planning to charge thousands of dollars on those credit cards? How do you even know if it is happening? People tend to find out their were victimized after thousands have been spent.