If you have found out that there are credit cards, phone accounts or even mortgages in your name that you did not create, you may be a victim of identity theft. Identity theft is the act of using personal information (usually a name, credit card number, or Social Security number) that does not belong to the person using it.

This silent crime may only come to your attention when a collector contacts you about a debt that “you” owe; monitoring your credit report on a regular basis is also a way to find out whether or not someone has stolen your financial identity.

 

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that nine million people in the United States are victims of identity theft. The consequences of having your identity stolen can range from the annoyance of having to spend time proving that you did not open accounts and dealing with collectors and attorneys to possibly being arrested for a crime you did not commit (often involving stolen cars). Protect yourself against identity theft to avoid the plethora of problems you may encounter.