I was the Victim of Identity Theft!

I had my identity stolen briefly two years ago; if it can happen to me, it can happen to you.

Identity theft is a growing crime in the United States, bilking credit card companies, banks and individuals out of millions of dollars a year. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States with someone's identity being stolen every 28 minutes. Chances are that you or someone you know will be the victim of identity theft.

My identity thief worked with the computer. Identity thieves resort to numerous tactics to try to gain your information, one of the easiest is through your home computer. These high-level techies are very good at what they do and would probably have much success in the legitimate world if they decided to use their powers for good instead of evil.

I used to be quite active on EBay, which is how my identity thief found me. In addition to my Ebay account, I also had a Paypal account. And, to make things easy for myself, I had the same password for each. I used to sell quite a bit of merchandise on EBay a couple of years ago, which probably attracted the attention of the identity thief.

I received an e-mail from Ebay telling me that they wanted me to be a "featured seller." Like all good con artist, the identity thief preyed upon my vanity at having a good rating on Ebay. I was happy to do this, and eagerly clicked on the link provided in the e-mail.

The link took me to my Ebay page. Or what I thought was my Ebay page. I put in my user name and password and was sent a "thank you" note. I awaited my introduction to the Ebay community.