THE COST OF IDENTITY THEFT

Because federal law limits your liability in a lof of identity theft cases, most victims don`t suffer more than a few dollars of loss, mostly in notary fees. The real cost of identity theft is the hassle of cleaning up after the thief has been cut off. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group reports that it takes an average of two to four years to explain away the thief`s bad debts. The FTC estimates that 36 percent of victims also experience problems being denied credit, a loan, or insurance as a direct result of the theft. Of the people unlucky enough to have an identity thief actually impersonate them-instead of just using their credi card account for an unauthorized shopping spree-14 percent were investigated by the police or thrown in jail.

WILLY SUTTON PRINCIPLE

We all know that companies collect a lot of information about us. Most of the time they do it for the right reasons, such as wanting to give us better service. But in creating a juicy stockpile of data, they create a very attractive target for information thieves. It`s just as Willy Sutton, the infamous bank robber, supposedly said when asked why he robbed banks: "Because that is where the money is."

Origanized criminal groups, wanting long lists of personal information don`t waste time breaking into our mailboxes one by one. More and more, they are going for the large corporate databases.

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