As identity theft becomes more prevalent,
need to regularly check your credit report is very easy to see and understand. Two big headlines in news recently point to how closely tied your credit report and identity theft are.First, we hear of troubles of Choice Point, a company involved in storage and distribution of credit information. It appears some criminals set up a fake company and used it to obtain sensitive credit information. Then in turn they used it to steal identities of about 750 people. That number will probably grow, since more than 500,000 people across country have been put at risk.
Second, comes story about missing computer tapes containing credit card records of more than 1.2 million of Bank of America cardholders. Most of accounts belonged to federal government employees. This has placed account holders in danger of increased risk of identity theft.
Both of these companies are now in process of notifying people of their exposure. The truly bad part of all problems is these leaks and losses occurred months ago. These two companies were not very quick in notifying people affected. Way too much damage could have been done before they had been alerted to trouble.
While headlines may change, need to check your credit report does not. You may be very careful. You may shred your documents, credit card and other financial solicitations you receive in mail. You may take great care how and where you give out your financial information. Unfortunately as these stories show, it may not be enough.
Identity theft affects about 10 million victims per year. It has been estimated to cost consumers and businesses more than 50 billion dollars a year. It is easily among fastest growing categories of white collar crime. You need to do all you can to fight theft of your identity.
