Internet Identity Theft Laws: Ways to Avoid Becoming a Victim

Internet identity theft laws went into effect to protect against one of the most common forms of internet identity theft which is called phishing. The Identity Theft Penalty Act was signed into law in 2004 by former President Bush and made internet identity theft more punishable by law.

The laws concerning identity theft are clearly defined but they are designed to catch thieves after a crime has been committed which makes in vitally important for people to protect against identity theft before it occurs.

How Internet Identity Theft Differs from Identity Theft

Most victims of internet identity theft are not even aware that they have been victimized until it is much too late to act which makes internet identity theft that much more devastating than identity theft. In the past five years according to the FTC one in eight Americans have been a victim of Internet identity theft and this is occurring even with internet identity theft laws in place.

Identity theft occurs when something is physically stolen such as a wallet or purse that contains personal information such as credit cards or a driver’s license or when an un-shredded document is taken such as a bank statement. Then that stolen information is used to make fraudulent purchases.

How Internet Identity Theft Works

The internet identity theft laws are extremely important but being vigilant when using the computer is equally as important to ensuring protection. A computer collects all kinds of information about its users and stores it in files which are hidden on the hard drive.

The files that store this information include browser cache, search history and temporary internet files which can be used to obtain personal information and they store information such as passwords, credit card numbers, names and addresses which can be easily stolen in one of two ways.

Either the thief can gain access by installing malicious software such as spyware which is used to collect information and send it back or they can gather data during an unsecured transmission. The best way to protect against this type of theft is to use reliable spyware protection.

Other Tips to Protect against internet identity theft

Becoming a victim of identity theft is something everyone worries about, but there are ways to protect against identity theft besides only relying on internet identity theft laws. Some of the simplest ways to protect personal information while using the computer include:

delete or disable cookies use a firewall delete internet history clear internet cache clear all temporary internet files empty the recycle bin often delete all recent documents turn off computer when not in use