This year research companies Javelin and Gartner did not agree with the FTC’s reported number of identity theft victims in the US during 2006. Gartner topped out at 15 million and Javelin claimed identity theft was diminishing. The reports made by consumer to the FTC were in between.

No matter what the illusive real number is, a few things come to mind these three expert groups might agree on in regard to factually measuring the victims and affects of the identity theft crisis:

The first is what is called a synthetic identity, where parts of your information such as your social security number is mixed with another persons name at an unrelated address.

Financial identity theft can be very serious. It is also becoming more and more prevalent these days. In this article, we will discuss how financial identity theft occurs and what you can do to protect yourself.

In many cases, financial identity theft begins with the theft of one’s social security number. With your social security number and a few other pieces of information about you, the thief can set up an entire second credit line. They can apply for credit cards and even get a mortgage. It is so important that you keep this information private. Do not give your social security number out over the phone. Only provide it to entities that truly have a right and a legitimate reason to know, such as your tax professional or your bank.

There are many scams on the Internet, we know this already – we have all received spam emails in our inboxes and we delete them without further thought. What happens though when ‘spam’ is undetectable? What if you get an email from your bank or online bank that looks real and is asking for your information to be input on a website? Looks legitimate so you go ahead and do it – after all, they said your account would expire if you did not. Is that a scam or an attempt at identity fraud? Yes, it is.

If you think you are a victim of identity fraud it is vitally important that you take immediate steps to begin repairing the damage that has been done. The damage may be more than you think it is, depending on the length of time that someone has had your identity and been using it.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world today and, with increasing technology, it is getting more and more common. Identity theft victims spend hours, as well as a great deal of money, trying to recover their financial identity. Most financial institutions, including your bank and credit card holders, will reimburse you for any fraudulent charges that are a result of identity theft, but they do not offer any other assistance. Most identity theft victims are forced to spend time away from work, making phone calls and preparing and sending various documents, to repair their marred credit report. This adds to the expenses of recovering from identity fraud and is usually the sole responsibility of the identity theft victim.

There are many popular identity theft scams that are circulating, some have been around for decades while others are new to the scene. Some thieves will never stop trying to find a way to steal the one thing that is most important to you – your very identity. Each year, millions of people have their identities stolen in some way or are defrauded in some way.

Let’s take a look at some of the more popular schemes to steal your identity and how you can determine if they are scams or not when you are faced with them.

While no doubt you have heard of different types of identity theft, you may not have heard a great deal about social security number theft. Most of the time when you think of identity theft you think of someone stealing your credit card number or other financial information. Although this can be dangerous and cause a myriad of problems, social security number theft is even worse.

What is Social Security Number Theft?

Identity theft continues to be a growing problem around the world. Despite all that’s been done to fight identity theft in terms of laws and statutes passed and the use of available technology, identity theft continues to be the fastest growing white collar crime. In fact the very technological advances used to fight identity theft may be among the biggest problems in fighting identity theft.

Identity and other information about you is held in a variety places, most of which you will not be able to control, and many of which are publicly available. An identity thief can find out a great deal about you, simply by accessing publicly available information.

- Your telephone number and address can easily found, simply by using the telephone book. Additionally, reverse look-up services can be used to find out about you, starting from your phone number.

If you have ever received a call from a collection agent claiming you owe money for a loan you don’t recall applying for, you very well could be a victim of identity fraud. All someone needs is your name, social security number, date of birth and account numbers to ruin you financially.

This information is easier to obtain that you think, and before you realize it, you are a victim of identity fraud.

There are several common ways identity fraud is carried out. Online identity theft, considered to be the most popular form of identify fraud, is only one. Another method has been nicknamed “dumpster diving,” which involves stealing mail by rummaging through someone’s garbage for identifying documents.