Today, threats of identify theft come in many forms. It is important that you learn how to recognize these fraudulent emails, to protect yourself from identity theft. Personally, I delete all emails sent from people I do not recognize.

Most fraudulent emails pretend to come from banks or other institutions that you would ordinarily trust. They use this trust in an attempt to get you to give up your personal information. Most of these emails tell you that the bank has “reviewed your account”, and that you need to confirm your information. Ironically, many such emails tell you that giving them your personal information will help protect your account from identity theft.

These emails will tell you to click a link in the email, which appears to lead to your bank site. The email will likely tell you not to reply to the email, but that the best response is to click the link and “log in” to your account. There, you will be directed to enter your login information, and probably other financial details as well. Commonly requested information in phishing email schemes include bank routing numbers, account numbers, PIN numbers and passwords, and Social Security numbers. You should not give these numbers out online, even if you believe the request to be legitimate. Banks and other financial institutions will never send you emails requesting this information.

However, these links do not direct you to your real bank’s website, but a site that has been created to look just like it. Both the email and the website are made to look legitimate, but they are not. If in doubt about the legitimacy of an email, go directly to your bank’s site. DO NOT click on the link in the email; type in the real website address directly. Any legitimate concerns with your account can be found on the real website.

If you cannot tell if an email is legitimate, here are some tips. Phishing emails will be directed to “valued customer” or another generic greeting, while real emails use your name. These emails often have grammatical errors or misspelled words, another tip-off that you are reading a scam email.

If you accidentally respond to one of these phishing emails, you need to contact all of your account providers immediately. Change your passwords and PIN numbers, and keep a close eye on activity in your account. If you are a victim of such a scheme, do not feel guilty or ashamed. Identity theft is a relatively new threat, and it is easy to fall for such a scheme.

Variations of scam emails include those claiming that you have won money, and need to respond with your information to claim it. These emails should be deleted immediately as well for your personal protection. Never respond unless you know who sent the email even if it uses your complete name as the recipient since this one can not save you from identity theft. If in doubt, contact that person or company directly to find out if the email is legitimate. Never trust links in the email to take you to a legitimate site, as the vast majority will not.

Report any spam emails you receive by clicking the “report spam” link in your email inbox. This will help them devise more ways to keep these emails from ever reaching your inbox in the first place.

A person that becomes a victim of identity theft is a victim for life. This is because no matter how often the law reassures you that they are trying to fix the problem, they are lying. I was a victim of identity theft. The second time this occurred, I reported the problem to the police. Their reaction was to ask a few questions and give me a report number – no further action was taken. So I reported both this and the crime to the Federal Trade Commission (this was in 2000), but I am still waiting for a response – and the perpetrator is still committing the crimes!

When I informed the credit bureaus of my dilemma, they made no attempt to remove the charges. They simply put a comment on my records to the effect that it was “resolved”. I am aware of other people who have faired far worse, some of whom have been summoned to court to answer for debts that they could not possibly have incurred. These people lived on the opposite side of the world to where the perpetrator was committing the offenses. How outrageous is it that the victims of crime have to suffer again and again because so few who could make a difference decide to act.

It is the case that with most instances of identity theft that is not involving a company, but rather an individual, they will receive little or no assistance at all. These individuals are denied credit because of the ramifications of the identity theft and are often placed in financial hardship. Some states place a “freeze” on credit reports. This should be the case in all states as it prevents anyone except the rightful owner of the credit to review the reports. The majority of states will place “fraud alerts” for up to three months on a credit report, but this achieves little – nothing is removed from the report. It can actually give the wrong impression.

It appears then, that it is our responsibility to protect ourselves from identity theft. Thieves are finding it increasingly easy, with the advancements in technology, to “steal” a person’s identity. Government data bases are protected by sophisticated “firewalls”, but still this is not enough to prevent thieves from hacking into accounts.

The newer credit cards available have microchips in them. These are supposed to prevent identity thieves from using them. This is not the case, as most identity thieves are already aware of the technology behind the chip and are able to bypass it.

The biggest and most “convenient” place for an identity thief to work is the world wide web. Even with firewalls and anti-hacker programs, anti-virus software and spy detectors, it is still not entirely safe to use the Internet. In 2004, an estimated eleven million people fell prey to identity theft, most of which were through the Internet.

It is the case that some cases of identity theft were perpetrated by friends, neighbors, family members or colleagues. One such case involved a couple, who moved from England to the States. When they arrived, they discovered that their identity had been “stolen” and they were left to answer a summons for debts they did not incur.

Some creditors and financial lenders will go so far as to accuse a victim of identity theft of fabricating the story of increase debts on your part or to avoid any poor credit rating, even when it has been proven that they were not responsible.