Identity Theft

Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name. The victim of identity theft (here meaning the person whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if he or she is held accountable for the perpetrator's actions. Organizations and individuals who are duped or defrauded by the identity thief can also suffer adverse consequences and losses, and to that extent are also victims.

One day a friend was victim of something similar. He was assaulted losing his ID, although he had no major issues, he was affected by this. He completely forgot that he had lost his identification and when he went to the supermarket he couldn’t buy nothing, because he didn’t has cash on hand and all his money was into his debit card, and the cashier couldn’t slide his debit card without any identification.

In summary, he couldn’t buy anything at the supermarket on that day, and he had to go to an ATM to get cash out in order to buy what he needed.

Some important things we can do to protect ourselves is being careful with our personal things, be careful about giving out personal information, and request police assistance immediately when we think we are suffering identity theft.