Identity Theft Affects

One of the most important identity theft affects is the emotional impact on the victim, let alone all the mess he/she has to deal with, both financially and credit wise. I remember when my wife and I were hit with a case of identity theft. Someone had gone shopping with our credit card, at multiple locations, within our neighborhood. The strange part was that we were still in possession of our credit card. Apparently, the criminal had used our personal information to create a counterfeit credit card. Nowadays, criminals are very sophisticated when it comes to stealing and using others' personal information. They seem to always be one step ahead of the rest of us. We were emotionally devastated and my wife was very scared. I believe the total amount charged on our credit card was a little over $2000. Luckily, the credit card company cleared us of all charges upon conclusion of their investigation which lasted about a couple of weeks, and we started fresh with a new card and number, within a reasonable timeframe. The police was notified by the credit card company which contacted us to follow up, but we had never filed a police report- big mistake now that I think back. Although, we were lucky, a police report would have been necessary for record keeping and proof of innocence in case of dispute with creditors. So, it is very important to follow the steps described in the identity theft victim section.

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