It’s everywhere you don’t want it to be. From skimming your debit card at a gas pump to phony financial e-mails hitting your cell phone or computer, identity theft is as crafty as it is continuous.
More than 11 million of us fell victim to identity theft last year, according to an annual report by Javelin Strategy & Research.
“It’s really the crime that won’t go away. It’s so insidious,” said Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, which launched national Protect Your Identity week with the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
It also can be costly, in both time and money. The average victim of identity theft in 2009 lost $4,840 and spent 21 hours coping with the aftermath, according to Javelin’s study of 5,000 U.S. consumers.
The motives of identity thieves are usually the same: to swipe your personal or financial information and use it to drain accounts, open credit cards and engage in other financial mayhem in your name.
Recently, California investigators charged three Los Angeles men with 42 counts of felony identity theft for allegedly using illegal electronic devices to skim debit and credit card numbers at seven Northern California gas station pumps, including one in the Sacramento area. They allegedly stole more than $160,000 from about 200 consumers.
Also last week, the state Franchise Tax Board and Board of Equalization warned Californians of phony e-mails to taxpayers stating that their electronic tax payments did not go through. The e-mails are an apparent attempt to electronically fish for personal data, the tax agencies said.
As a form of identity theft, these so-called “phishing scams” continually surface. The IRS, banks and other organizations regularly warn consumers about fraudulent e-mails or texts.
How can you avoid this type of identity theft? Don’t respond to any request to verify your account number or password….