A recent article by identity theft expert Robert Siciliano outlines the damaging effects of a relatively new type of identity theft: Social Media Identity Theft.
While Siciliano warns that identity theft can happen to anyone (children, elderly, celebrities, politicians) of any financial means (poor, middle class, rich) and in many forms (criminal, medical, or business identity theft), one of the most damaging to a person’s professional character in society is Social Media Identity Theft, in which identity thieves pose as other people – usually rich and famous ones – in order to disrupt their lives, harass and stalk them or people they know, or steal their social media identity for financial gain.
The most recent victim of Social Media Identity Theft was the St. Louis Cardinals MLB team manager Tony La Russa. An identity thief created an account in La Russa’s name and posted derogatory and demeaning comments on Twitter.com – a free an extremely popular social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based updates of up to 140 characters known as “tweets.”
However, La Russa – who has filed a suit against Twitter.com – is just the latest in a line of celebrities to be targeted on the site. Months ago, the Twitter accounts of pop princess Britney Spears, Fox News (and anchor Bill O’Reilly), and even new President Barack Obama were all hacked and false and inappropriate messages were posted.
While Social Media Identity Theft is no doubt embarrassing and should be punished, the overall effects are less financially straining than other forms of identity theft that cost victims – most neither rich nor famous – both money and time. These ordinary people cannot just erase a fake message; they must deal with the real ramifications of criminal identity theft for years, even decades.
Preventing identity theft in all forms is becoming more difficult in today’s digital age due to the popularity of social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. One method is to run a "personal background check" to view and manage Personal Identifying Information (PII) such as name, data of birth, and Social Security Number (SSN). In an effort to control PII, and online reputations, many individuals have preformed these personal background checks on themselves. Why? Because a personal background check can ensure that an individual's information is free of errors, inaccuracies, or discrepancies – and has not been taken over by an identity thief.
A personal background check is a series of different searches that are compiled into a single report using Personal Identifying Information to access various public and private sources to determine if any criminal, credit, employment, or other records exist. Companies like MyBackgroundCheck.com – one of the first web-based background check companies focusing on individual consumers – helps keep Personal Identifying Information used in background checks secure, accurate, and up-to-date. The company provides fast and affordable background check results tailored to the needs of consumers. These multi-use, portable background checks can be used as individual screening for jobseekers, students, renters, in-home help, contractors/vendors, and also as identity theft protection.
For more information on personal background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.
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