9 Surprising Ways Identity Theft Can Hurt You

The influx of technology and media has brought forth novel inconveniencies for us. Identity theft is one such modern-day malady that can hurt you immensely. The best way to tackle such a situation is to hire an identity theft defense attorney.

But let’s first understand the scope of ID thefts.

Defining Identity Theft

Identity theft is the fraudulent practice of misusing your information to obtain services or commit criminal offenses. When such crimes are identified, you may be penalized because your information has connections to the offense.

The scope of identity thefts is not just limited to money frauds, tax scams, and property scams. In fact, it can hurt your life and prospects in the following ways:

Limit Your Future Job Prospects

Most companies when hiring employees do a background check of their credit history. If your identity is linked with a series of failed credit lines, your prospective employer may reject your application for reasons unrelated to your credibility.

A few states in the US curb this practice, while many of them don’t. In such situations, it is always wise to seek legal aid. In all of the USA, you can easily find an identity theft attorney (Georgia, Texas, Florida, etc.) who can defend your case within the limits of the state legislature.

Increase Your Insurance Rates

Many insurance companies use your credit scores to set insurance rates. Lower credit scores can increase your premium rates by up to 50%.

Companies can reject your application right away or hike the insurance rates without any explanation. People victimized by such malpractices do not even recognize such a pattern until it is too late. As a safety measure, you must frequently verify your credit scores.

And if things go out of hand, hiring an identity theft defense attorney would be wise.

Generate False Tax Invoice

SSN-only ID theft happens when a perpetrator uses your social security number to obtain services from the government. When the individual does not pay taxes for the services obtained, the bill will end up in the name of the actual owner of the SSN that is you.

It will be a daunting task for you to prove your innocence in such a situation.

Affect Your Social Security Income Credits

SSN-only perpetrators may pay into the Social Security system to raise earning credits. They can then make Social Security expenses afterward.

It is rare for a perpetrator to pull this heist. But when earnings are falsely attributed to your SSN, you will have trouble in applying for related benefits in the future.

Impact Your Tax Refunds

In 2013, about 2 million taxpayers were impacted by tax-related ID thefts even though their credentials were not utilized for the malpractice.

This is because since then, the IRS has ramped up its attempts to prevent thefts by enhancing the scam filters in the system. This has reduced the pace of the tax reimbursement process for many credible citizens.

In this way, even if your identity is not stolen, such cases can impact you nonetheless.

Make You An Offender

Criminal ID theft usually happens when a perpetrator gives false information to the police when arrested.

Criminals may have documents they procured using your credentials. This will put your information in the criminal information database, thus, giving you a criminal record. Most victims in such cases realize this only when they are summoned in court or in serious cases, get arrested.

Eradicate Your Existence From The System

The Social Security Administration erroneously announces 14,000 individuals as deceased annually. This usually happens when perpetrators using your SSN, to permanently cover their tracks, register you as deceased in the database

You may find it shocking but often living citizens are unable to convince the system that has declared them dead.

Make You A Medical Patient

In medical ID theft, someone may use your information to obtain medical service, prescription drugs, or medical insurance.

Fake medical bills created in your name, for instance, could make you a psychiatric patient. In serious circumstances, such fake medical history could delay your treatment or lead to misdiagnosis.

Your medical insurance claim could be rejected furthering your agony.

Prevent Your Children From Securing Monetary Aid

Child ID theft affects minors because your children’s SSN could be misused to start lines of credit, acquire a driver’s license or purchase items, etc. This malpractice remains concealed for decades because we may find no impetus to check their details.

Such fraudulent information attached to your children’s identity could lead to rejection of monetary aid applications and hence, impact their future.

Conclusion

All this information may seem quite uncomfortable but the idea here is to make you conscious of the need for protecting your personal information.

When you take the right steps to do so, you will not become prey to such malpractices. In case you do land up in such situations, immediately look to hire an identity theft defense attorney.