Identity theft is a problem that is not going to go away. The risk to the thief is so low as to be non existent. Somewhere around
5% actually get arrested only about 2% ever get prosecuted, for the thief is great odds. The statistics on arrests are so low because the thief is often in another state or even another country. Also most police departments just don't have the resources to investigate every identity theft case that gets reported.
Even though many people are taking the lessons and advise to heed about personally protecting their information, they still fall victim. We shred, we avoid giving our information to people we don't know we don't click on unknown links, so how does it happen? Well Identity theft is "big business" for organized crime. Identity theft rings are operating all around us and it's almost impossible to spot them.
The new waitress at your favorite restaurant, the receptionist at your doctor's office, the clerk at the local DMV may all be moonlighting as a "Product Acquisition Specialists" for an identity theft ring. In each of those cases it's already happened. The employees were stealing customer information for the purpose of identity theft. Sometimes they used the information themselves and sometimes they sold it. But the best deal for an identity theft ring is "buying in bulk". Security breaches at businesses, schools and government agencies happen so often they don't even make the news anymore unless they are huge like the TJ MAXX breach last year. Unfortunately for us when a breach occurs that information is no longer secure.
The other big misconception is people thinking, "They are going to monitor my credit for the next year so I'll know if I'm a victim." While credit monitoring is one of the best ways to track if someone is trying to steal your identity, it's not perfect. It tracks your credit history. .If the thief avoids using your identity for things that will trigger activity on your credit report, you will never know your identity was stolen until a non financial issue occurs. Say that warrant out of Idaho for your arrest when you've never been to Idaho a day in your life. Or maybe the audit letter from the IRS because you did not report the income you made working at that Walmart in California when you live in New York.
The other danger is in thinking that you made it through a year, now you're safe. Your personal information does not have a "use by" date. It does not go rancid or rot after a year, that information is just as fresh and usable five years from now as it is today. It's a non perishable item and the folks running these rings know that. They can just sit on it and age it until the monitoring period is over and then use, sell it or do anything else they want with it. You won't even realize that this is the information your college lost five years ago.
Identity theft will happen. Statistics indicate that it is not if you fall victim but when. All we can do is to educate ourselves and have a plan to minimize the damage.
