Dopplegänger 2.0

One of the worst feelings is noticing purchases on your card account that you have not made recently and unable to find your credit card. Identity theft is one of the most common forms of theft and deception across the nation. This crime has increased over the years and continues to happen as more people gain access to the internet or credit cards. There are 6 types of identity theft, being medical, criminal, identity cloning, synthetic, ghosting, and financial.

Financial is the most common form of identity theft which is when another person's identity is used to obtain money, services, or goods. People often drop their credit cards or throw away personal information without properly or safely disposing it. Another way financial identity theft occurs is by pick-pocketers or when someone drops their wallet with all of their cards are in it. Although these thefts frequently occur, the perpetrators are easily caught through locating where cards or accounts are last used and through surveilance cameras.

An incident recently occured in Pueblo, Colorado around the beginning of October. The victim dropped their card at Dollar General and the two suspects, male and female, and began using it. The accusation is on a woman and her partner in crime stole the debit card and began making purchases on gift cards and cigarettes. This is a perfect example of how easy it is to steal identity through a financial situation. It is often for people to drop their credit cards when paying for an item and dropping it when they try to place it in their pockets.

Although the suspects have not been caught yet, they will be shortly since tracking information to locate suspects is becoming accomplished quickly. It may be a nightmare when identity theft occurs, but it is a very common occurrence so people should not fret too much. The average to repair the damage done from any sort of identity theft when discovered is about 21 hours which further clarifies how quickly and efficiently this issue can be solved. We all just need to be careful with what information we present to the world and be cautious of where we place our financial information to help avoid identity theft.