Internet Identity Theft - What to Do in a Catch 22

Internet identity theft has claimed 2 million adult American victims within a recent 12-month period. Among this number, 70% used the Internet to transact business with their banks or pay bills. More than 50% say they've been targeted by Internet identity theft perpetrators through e-mail.

What is ironic is that one of the solutions to identity theft proposed by experts is to eliminate or minimize paper bills and mail and switch to e-mail or online transactions instead! Talk about a Catch-22 situation!

See, minimizing paper makes you less prone to mail theft. But paying your bills online opens you to Internet identity theft. What are you supposed to do then?

Here's a tip: the minute you go paperless and transact business online, make sure that you monitor the balances of ALL your accounts and all your electronic activity once a week AT LEAST. This can substantially minimize your risk from Internet identity theft.

If you're old school and still prefer filing paper bills and transaction slips, then review all your monthly statements, item by item, and make sure a billing cycle never passes without your getting a statement. (A statement missing from the mail may mean it was stolen or diverted to another address – one of the first signs of identity theft!)

If, like many Americans, you want to use a combination of paper and electronic means of managing your finances, but are wary of Internet identity theft, then just use your e-mail to have your bank or credit company alert you of the following activities:

• Payments
• Transfer of funds
• Withdrawals
• Low balance amounts
• To receive periodic credit reports

Internet Identity Theft - Where Do We Go From Here?

Experts say that Internet identity theft will, eventually, slow the growth of both e-commerce as well as e-banking. As more Internet users discover that each online electronic transaction exposes them to certain risks (e.g., account hijacking, etc.), they will look for alternatives, most probably OFFline.

The rest who choose to still use the Internet will just be more careful. To date, only 5% of Americans who get bogus e-mail respond. More of us are getting used to sham e-mail, directing us to fake websites, which we don't even bother to open anymore.

In fact, this is a VERY wise practice: DO NOT OPEN any bank (or credit company) e-mail you didn't initiate!

Why? Well, because a FIFTH of Internet identity theft victims have clicked phishing e-mails. What's more, almost all big financial firms and even e-payment services (e.g., PayPal) have been attacked by phishers.