Many of our identity theft news articles have focused on data breaches, laptop theft and company mishaps. We read these stories and still might feel that we are not at risk ourselves, because we are not employees or members of the companies mentioned in the reports. However, it is always good to keep in mind that this can happen to us without our knowledge.

Take, for example, an individual who owned property in the United State but moved away to live abroad. They owned a house in the state of California and decided to sell after 4 years of not occupying the home. They had to shop around for a real estate agent to handle the transaction for them. When the real estate agent began preparing to list the house on the market, they found that the house was being rented. The homeowner had no idea that anyone was living in the home and had to do some of their own investigating. What they found was that someone they did not know was collecting rent from strange tenants in their home! The unidentified party was also able to use the homeowner’s name to get a loan and even buy a business. The homeowner is being held responsible for all of these financial obligations and the thief benefited for years.

You will find on this site, how important it is to check your credit report often for any unusual activity listed in your name and social security number. If any is found, address it immediately.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 6:54 am and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.