Identity theft can happen to anyone. To lower your chances of becoming a victim, it is important to learn as much about it as possible, especially identity theft facts. Learning about identity theft facts and always using common sense are the keys to preventing it from happening to you. First, you should define identity theft and get a good overall feeling about this crime. By looking at the results and how people are taken advantage of, you will be answering the important question: what is identity theft.

There are many different types of identity theft that the thieves will commit once they have their hands on your personal information. These types range from employment fraud to utilities fraud to medical identity theft to the most common type, credit card fraud. Credit card fraud is when the thief uses your personal information to use your current credit cards or actually apply for a new credit card, receive it and max it out.

The best way to prevent credit card fraud is to check your credit reports yearly. Also, if you know your identity may have been compromised for some reason, immediately put a credit freeze on your credit report. This freeze will make any creditors contact you before issuing a new line of credit in your name.

Having a good grasp on the history of identity theft will help prevent you from becoming the next victim. All of the different types of identity theft that mainly occurred in the past are also being committed today, just in smaller numbers. So, by knowing the identity theft facts and how this crime has evolved, you are actually learning about potential scams you should watch out for and be aware of. The definition of identity theft and the crime in general has changed tremendously since the early days of America.

Way back when, if someone needed to assume the identity of someone else, their options were quite limited. Today, however, there are thousands of different scams that professional criminals use to get any personal information out of victims. The latest identity theft facts and figures go in depth to show which kinds of theft are occurring most often and how the criminals are making money off the identities.

The evolution is fascinating, but scary. Who knows how complex these scams may get? Hopefully, common sense and a good knowledge base will continue to be enough to prevent most identity theft attempts.