Preventing Identity Theft

Identity theft has become one of the top legal concerns of the information age, as legions of hackers and scammers appropriate other people's personal data-social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, driver's license numbers, etc.-and use them for their own personal gain. Most

According to the Federal Trade Commission, more than half of all complaints tracked in 2003 concerned identity theft. Some 215,000 cases of identity theft were reported to the FTC in 2003, up from approximately 162,000 the previous year. The agency reports that in 2002 alone, the United States had some 9.9 million identity theft victims, costing businesses and consumers $53 million. Over the last five years, the total number of identity theft victims in the United States jumps to 27.3 million.