It’s shocking, but more than 21,917 people per day are reporting known cases of Identity Theft, and that’s only the ones that are discovered and reported..

The scary thing is that most people only find out once the damage (Defaults and judgments from loans they know nothing about) is done.

It’s a funny thing, it even took my wife some time to  fully understand the ramifications of identity theft.

We had a shredder in my home office and more often than not it sat there idle, and documents with identifying information was simply thrown in the bin.

Studies show that if you have been targeted for identity theft, the individuals or gang targeting you will come back to your rubbish bin over and over again until they get all the information they need.

The first time, they might only get, say, a phone bill. The phone bill will have your name, your address, and of course your phone number.

The next time, it might be an electricity bill. This again will have your name, your home address, and your e

lectricity account number.

The next time they might get a credit card bill. The credit card bill will most likely have your credit card number and your customer ID number.

Let’s quickly review what they have so far:

• your name
• your address
• your telephone number
• your electricity account number
• your credit card number
• your credit card customer reference ID

And if you’re unlucky, your telephone bill will give them a list of all the people you like to call.

Do you feel violated yet?

Now they know a little bit about you, and now it’s time to look you up on the Internet. The first three places they will look are:

1. Facebook
2. Youtube
3. MySpace

Let’s look at Facebook.

Because they have your basic details, it’s not hard to do a search on Facebook to see if you are a registered Facebook user.

If they find you there, they can usually see quite quickly where you are from, any relatives, if you or any of your family have used any of the ‘friends’ or ‘family’ or ‘family tree’ type apps, they might get to see other identifying information like your Mums maiden name (which is one of the key ID requests for the banks) or they can get your Date of birth, your first school etc. etc. etc.

Before too long, these people have a full list of all of your identifying information that will allow them to open bank accounts in your name, get a ‘replacement’ copy of your drivers license, get a new medicare card and so much more.

If you have a facebook account, you should now be very scared, especially if you have your date of birth displayed.

So, what are the 7 things to avoid becoming the victim of Identity Theft?

1. Buy a cross cut shredder
2. Shred every bit of information with your details on it.
3. DO NOT put personal Information on social networking sites
4. Do not click on links in emails from ‘banks’ saying you have to log in
5. Always log in to your banks website by typing the address into the web browser.
6. Always insist on Identifying the person on the phone who ‘claims’ to be from the bank
7. Dont leave indentity type documents in your car (cars get broken in to every day)

I know it is scary but with more than $3,000,000,000.00 (Thats 3 Billion) in lost revenue from Identuity theft every year in Australia alone, its too big a risk.

Go and buy a cheap shredder, you can even get hand operated ones from the $2 shops, just get one and never throw out anything that can identify you again.

For more information on coming back from Identity Theft or removing defaults from your credit file, visit www.mycra.com.au/repair or call (Austraila) 07 3613 9709

This has been Graham Doessel and this is my comment

By Graham Doessel

Tonight on Channel 7 News, it was reported that more than $3,000,000,000 (Three Billion Dollars) was the loss due to Identity theft in Australia last year.

That is almost $14 lost for every man woman and child in Australia today.

To watch this compelling 1:33 minute video, click below

For more on what you can do to protect yourself from Identity Theft, visit www.mycra.com.au

If you have bad credit and need a loan, visit www.mortgagenow.com.au

This has been Graham Doessel and this has been my comment

Identity theft is on the rise with one in five Australians likely to, or already being victim of credit related fraud including identity theft.

Recently a report was commissioned that outlined the depth of the Identity Theft problem in Australia and the figures are alarming.

There was more than $2 billion lost in identity theft related crimes in 2005.  We are awaiting more recent figures but for now the outlook is not pretty…

This is a warning to every Australian, internet user or not, to be careful with their private and personal information.

Too many inocent Aussies are being ripped of without even knowing about it until it is far too late..

There were approx. 7% or 1.2 Million Australains falling victim of personal mail theft and that is frightening, as often your mail will contain enough information to use your identity to apply for credit cards, get ‘replacement’ identification or even remortgage your home..

“Credit card crime is especially prevalent, with almost 10% of Australians surveyed falling victim to someone either stealing or skimming their credit card. People aged from 25 to 49 years are the most impacted by mail theft.” it was recently stated.

Your Credit File is like your ‘Credit Passport’ and should be treated with as much respect.  You should always know what is on your credit file and why it is there.

MyCra.com.au offers a paid service where clients can get a copy of their credit file within 3 business hours and have their credit files repaired upon review.

This has been Graham Doessel and this has been my comment

You can reach Graham Doessel at (Aust) 1300 667 239, or at www.mortgagenow.com.au

Graham is the founder and CEO of Mortgage Now, Pro Legal (www.prolegal.net.au) and has involvement in a number of charities and other associated businesss, all designed to give you a hand when you’re in trouble.

Identity theft is of major concern to the Australian Federal Government and it should be of concern to you too…

Why?

Because there was more than $2,000,000,000 (two billion dollars) in known losses caused by Identity Theft in 2005 alone.

This has risen dramatically since then and is likely to continue to rise until average everyday people start to protect their privacy.

There are a number of things you can do initially to lessen the likelyhood of you becoming a target of Identity Theft:

• Completely destroy any information that may have your personal details on it (Before it’s thrown away) - such as electricity or phone bills, credit card statements, bank statements, rates notices etc.
• Don’t give out personal information by email or on social networking sites unless you are sure of the identity of the person at the other end of the conversation.
• Never give out personal information over MSN and other Chat Programs as the security of these types of services has been breached a number of times.
• Check your accounts and records carefully for anything that you don’t remember doing, like a few ’small’ transactions on your credit card (these can often be ‘test’ charges)
• When disposing of personal information (Like statements and bills) make sure they are shredded, burnt, cut up into tiny pieces or in some way completely destroyed to ensure the information can not be ‘found’ in your rubbish.

One quick way to see if you might have been targeted for possible Identity Theft is to get an up to date copy of your credit file.

There are a number of agencies out there that will supply you with a copy of your credit file from within one day to 2 weeks.  There is also one known firm that will guarantee you a copy of your credit file in less than 3 business hours.  That firm is MyCra.com.au

Once you have a copy of your credit file, have a look through and make sure you personally have made each and every application for credit that is listed on your credit file.
And YES, every time you make an application for a credit card, mobile phone, electricity account, home phone, interest free purchase or any other kind of finance, it will be listed and recorded on your credit file.

If there are any unknown applications or enquiries, you should begin the process to find out ‘what the heck is going on’.

There are a number of resources available that you might like to look at:

• Consumer Affairs Division – Department of the Treasury   (http://www.ecommerce.treasury.gov.au/)

• Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs   (http://www.consumer.gov.au/)

• Net Alert    (http://www.netalert.net.au)

• Australasian Centre for Policing Research    (http://acpr.gov.au)

Further information and reading can also be found at www.MyCra.com.au