Identity Theft in the Workplace

By Isela Reyes

Identity theft can occur when someone takes and uses your personal information, like your name, social security and credit cards without your knowledge or permission and uses them to commit fraudulent crimes. Identity theft has been plaguing people and businesses alike for years now, growing as scam artists are making a career out of taking advantage of people. By focusing their efforts solely on scamming people, they have come up with more sophisticated ways of taking advantage of people and businesses alike. There are many common ways that people fall victim to identity theft and also very simple ways that you can protect yourself from identity theft.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, about nine million people become victims of identity theft in the United States each year. Workplace theft can occur when company information or information about customers has been leaked to outsiders. The biggest reason for identity theft among businesses according to the article is simple carelessness. It can be passed through someone not properly disposing of important documents, papers left on a desk or by not having properly stored computer files. This is a common occurrence in many businesses, and a study done by the Ponemon Institute found that eighty five percent of businesses have been exposed to the type of data breach that involves the loss of a customer or employee or consumer.

There are simple ways to protect you and your business form identity theft and the most common methods that thieves use to take advantage of people. For your personal papers, something as simple as investing in a paper shredder instead of simply tossing your papers in the garbage can help to protect you. Dumpster diving, when someone rummages through your dumpster or trash bins, is a common way that identity thieves use to target their victims. Another way to protect yourself from identity theft is by using and creating passwords to protect all your important files and by reducing the amount of usage of your social security numbers. Many identity thieves pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send out spam e-mails and pop up messages to people in hopes that they will reveal some personal information that they could use. They also go directly to the companies such as phone and banking institutions that you solicit, and pretend to be a customer so that the companies will give them access to your personal information. To avoid fraud in these situations, it is important for people to be more careful and suspicious of people or companies who are asking for personal information.

We are living in a time where people are making a career out of scamming people by using very sophisticated methods of stealing from you. Many times it takes a while before victims of scam artists are even aware they have been scammed. This can become an especially sticky situation for businesses that have to protect the privacy of their customers and employees alike. If there should be leak involving customer information, they can find themselves in hot water by the customers who may seek legal action against them for not properly protecting their information.