Identity theft is easily one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. and worldwide. As a matter of fact, over 10 million people’s identity’s are stolen each year. My sister was a victim of minor identity theft and it took her countless hours to rectify the problem. The sad but true fact is that nobody seems to worry about it much until it happens to them. This is true about many things in life and I’m as guilty of it as the next guy but after hearing my sister’s horror stories about her relative minor problems with identity theft I’m seriously considering signing up with LifeLock. Here are some very scary stats about identity theft followed by a few simple ways you can protect yourself.
Discovery of Victimization
9-18% of victims can take 4 years or even longer to discover that they are actually victims of identity theft.
38-50% of victims will find out about the identity theft within 3 months of the theft starting.
Time Involved in Being a Victim
Typically victims will spend anywhere from just 3 hours to over 5,000 hours repairing the damage done by identity theft. This massive difference is another scary aspect of the crime. It all depends on the severity of the theft. A simple stolen credit card will take less time to rectify than someone that has used your social security card to completely become you!
25-35% of identity theft victims will spend a period of 4-6 months dealing with their case before fixing the problem and 10-23% report dealing with their case for 7 months up to a year.
Monetary Costs of Identity Theft
Victims will lose on average somewhere betwen $1,800 and $14,000 in wages dealing with their cases.
Victims will spend an average of $850 to $1,375 in expenses.
An estimated 40% of business costs for individual cases of identity theft exceed $15,000. According to the Aberdeen Group, about $221 billion a year is lost by businesses worldwide due to identity theft.
Practical and Emotional Costs of Identity Theft
47% of victims have trouble getting credit or a loan as a result of identity theft.
19% of victims have higher credit rates and 16% have higher insurance rates because of identity theft.
11% of victims say identity theft has a negative impact on their abilities to get jobs.
70% of victims have trouble getting rid of (or never get rid of) negative information in their records.
40% of victims experience stress in their family lives as a result of displaced anger and frustration over the identity theft.
45% of victims feel denial or disbelief.
85% of victims anger and rage.
45% of victims feel defiled by the identity thief.
42% of victims feel an inability to trust people because of the identity theft.
60% of victims feel unprotected by the police.
Uses of Victim Information
More than one third of victims report that identity thieves committed cheque account fraud.
66% of victims’ personal information is used to open a new credit account in their name.
28% of victims’ personal information is used to purchase cell phone service
12% of victims end up having warrants issued in their name for financial crimes committed by the identity thief.
Imposter Characteristics and Relationships to the Victim
43% of victims believe they know the person who stole their identity
14-25% of victims believe the imposter is someone who is in a business that holds their personally identifying information.
The most common reported perpetrator in cases where a child’s identity is stolen is the child’s parent.
16% of identity theft victims are also victims of domestic harassment/abuse by the same perpetrator. These victims believe that the identity theft is used as another way for the abuser to continue and demonstrate his harassment and control.
Responsiveness to victims
Overall, police departments seem to be the most responsive to victims of identity theft, with 58% taking down a report on the victim’s first request.
1/3 of victims have to send dispute information repeatedly to credit reporting agencies.
Only 1/5 of victims find it easy to reach someone in a credit reporting agency after receiving their credit report.
20% of victims will have the misinformation and errors removed from their credit report after their first request for the credit reporting agency to do so.
Click Here to read about the Important Ways to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft.
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Protecting yourself against identity theft involves nothing more than protecting personal information such as: Your full name, date of birth, birthplace, phone number, address, mothers maiden name, social security number, bank account number, credit card number, and your pin number. Anyone with knowledge of just one of your high sensitivity items can do a lot of damage. Part of the battle of preventing identity theft is recognizing how this personal information is stolen and from where.
Where your Identity can be Stolen From:
YOUR MAIL:
Don’t leave outgoing mail in an unsecured location. Deposit mail in USPS collection boxes.
Don’t leave mail in your mailbox overnight or on weekends.
Have your mail held at the post office while you’re out of town.
Get a mailbox that locks.
YOUR COMPUTER:
Use anti-spyware and anti-virus software.
Be wary of online shopping sites. Only shop at sites that you trust and are secure. See FTC - Online Shopping for more information.
Opt-OUT of “pre-screened” credit card offers. To do so call 1-888-5OPT-OUT.
Don’t ever list both your date of birth AND your social security number on a resume / application. There’s no need, initially, that they have both and it’s doubtful they’ll be as careful with your information as you would.
Guard your checkbook. It has your name, address and bank account number all in one place.
Know who else has your personal information.
What to do if your Identity is Stolen:
Should you ever become a victim, contact your banks and credit card issuers, the three major credit bureaus, file a police report, and file a complaint with the FTC.
If all this seems overwhelming and even if you are able to follow all of the above advice and you’re still worried about having your identity stolen, which no matter how much you protect yourself is still possible, then I would recommend looking into the services of a company such as LifeLock.
Click Here to See the Scary Stats of Identity Theft.
WARNING:
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC FOOTAGE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS MOST CERTAINLY ADVISED.
I believe that this is actually a Tiger Shark but it’s still one of the best and closest and bloodiest shark attack footage ever caught on tape. Sharks don’t actually have a much stronger bite than humans, believe it or not. What makes their bites different is the serrated edges on their teeth that literally slices through flesh as they shake their heads. Watch in slow-motion as this tiger shark literally removes a good chunk of this guy’s leg and you’ll see what I mean.
In honor of Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” I decided to scour YouTube to find the best actual footage of the top 3 shark attacks online. Believe me theres a lot of crap on YouTube and finding these wasn’t easy but here they are.
WARNING:
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC FOOTAGE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS MOST CERTAINLY ADVISED.
This video is grainy and from a distance but is easily one of the most amazing shark attacks caught on video. You can clearly see a surfer happily riding a wave when a massive great white grabs his arm and knocks him off his surfboard just as another great white attacks from another direction.
WARNING:
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC FOOTAGE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS MOST CERTAINLY ADVISED.
This is probably one of the scariest pieces of shark attack footage I’ve seen. A woman is swimming in the open ocean passing from one boat to another when a 16ft great white shark surfaces right behind her and bites her leg off!
Here’s a simple trick that will both conserve water and take care of watering your plants. After a long hot day I started noticing that every night I was finding at least a few half drank cups of water sitting around. Rather than throwing them down the sink every night I started pouring the two or three cups of water on one plant and then the next night I would water the next plant and so on and so on. I was able this way to both conserve water and make sure my plants were getting the water they needed. Super simple.
Much like most other people living in this digital age I’ve got a million DVD’s and twice as many CD’s. Unfortunately it’s pretty damn likely that at least a few of these disc’s are going to get scratched and/or get “gunk” on ‘em. Nothing is more frustrating than getting three-quarter’s the way through a DVD and then having it freeze on you. Checking a CD or DVD for scratches before putting it into your player is a good habit to get into, especially if it’s an older disc. If you notice any scratches and/or “gunk” on the CD simply do this to clean it up and ensure you’ll get the whole way through your CD or DVD without any problems.
THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO CLEAN MINOR SCRATCHED/SMUDGED DISC’S:
Bottle of Windex
Paper-Towel
Give the paper-towel a good squirt or two with the Windex. Now gently wipe the paper-towel over the surface of the disc starting from the center hole and moving outwards. Continue this process until all smudges are gone and any scratches are minimized. That’s it. Done and done. You’ll be amazed at how this simple process can really make a difference.
When going to the beach we all have our list of things to bring. Sunscreen, towel, boogie board, sandals, … Vinegar? Yes, vinegar! Nobody thinks that they’ll get stung by a jellyfish while at the beach or run into some sea anemone larvae which leave you covered in nasty red bumps or even stepping on a urchin spine. Well sadly it happens and vinegar is one of the best ways to ease the pain. I know many of you won’t follow this advice until you’ve been stung but if you ever have, trust me, you’ll do just about anything to make the pain stop. To do so simply soak the injured area in vinegar for at least 15-30 minutes and you’ll notice a HUGE difference. Good luck and have fun at the beach!
