Warning Signs of the Crime

Many victims have no clue that their identity has been stolen. Once they find out, it can be a long and frustrating process to sort out their true identity from that of the thief. If the crime is not detected early, you may lose out on loans, jobs, and other opportunities.

There are several things you can do that may give you an early warning that something bad is happening to your identity. Once you suspect identity theft, your best bet to limit the damage as much as possible is to take action immediately. Consumer experts know that identity thieves may first take a little bite to see if they can get away with using that information before swooping in to take a big chunk of your money. It’s like the burglar testing doors to find the one unlocked.

One early warning sign may be charges you don’t recognize on your credit card statement. It’s very important to review your credit card statement every month to look for charges you didn’t authorize. Keep your receipt and compare them with your monthly statement. If you see a charge you don’t recognize, report it to your credit card company.

Another early warning sign can be deposits or withdrawals from your bank account. Just like reviewing your credit card statement, you need to read your bank statements and balance your check book every month. Contact your bank immediately if you notice something suspicious, such as a missing payment or an unauthorized withdrawal or even a strange deposit. While federal and state laws can limit how much money you lose if you’re a victim of fraud or theft, your protections may be stronger if you report the problem quickly.

To check for other warning signs, order your credit report once a year. Your credit report is a summary of your credit activity. It includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you’ve been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. It also lists the companies that have checked on your credit-worthiness. All of this information is collected by three nationwide consumer reporting companies – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Effective in 2005 a law allows each of us to get one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three consumer reporting companies (CRCs). You can request reports from one, two, or all three companies at a time. Consider ordering a different report three or four months apart.

Everyone hopes that they do not have their identity stolen. You’re now equipped to go further than just hoping because you have learned many ways to guard your identity.

XIX. Our time and technical progress created new types of crimes one of which is computer hacking. What do you know about it? Why do the hackers do what they do? How seriously are the companies taking the problem? Have you ever been robbed by computer hackers?

Computer Hacking – High-tech Crime

You can rob a bank without leaving the house these days. Who needs stocking masks, guns and getaway cars? If you are a computer whizz-kid, you could grab your first million armed with nothing more dangerous than a personal computer (PC), a telephone and a modem to connect that only to them.

Fortunately it is not always quite as easy as it sounds. But, as more and more information is processed and stored on computer, whether it’s details of your bank account or the number if tins of baked beans in the stockroom at the supermarket, computer crime seems set to grow.

A couple of month ago a newspaper reported that five British banks were being held to ransom by a gang of hackers who had managed to break into their computer. The hackers were demanding money in return for revealing exactly how they did it. In cases like this, banks may consider paying just so they can protect themselves better in the future.

No one knows exactly how much money is stolen by keyboard criminals – banks and other companies tend to be very secretive if it happens to them. It doesn’t exactly fill customers with confidence if they think their bank account can be accessed by anyone with a PC! Some experts believe that only around a tenth of all computer crimes are actually reported.

Most computer crimes are “inside jobs”, where staff with access to the company’s computers fiddle with the records. A comparatively small amount are committed by the glamorous – and headline-grabbing – hackers.

The true hacker, it seems, doesn’t do it for financial gain. The thrill appears to be, not in getting rich, but in beating the system. Two of Britain’s most notorious hackers are Nicholas “Mad Hacker” Whiteley and Edward Singh. The renegade pair have been the scourge of organizations with insecure computers for years, seemingly competing for the title of Britain’s best hacker.

Prevention is probably easier than detection, and many companies now spend lots of time and money devising programmes using passwords and codes. Of course, all this is no use at all if computer users tell each other their password, stick it on their screen so they don’t forget it or use passwords like ‘password’. It all happens.

There are plenty of software companies who specialize in writing software that make computers hacker-proof.

XX. The article published in the “Times” raises a very important problem, the problem of genetic influence upon social deviance. Opinions are different. Read the article and say what view is closer to you. What opinion do you support? What do you think about such a statement in the article – There is no such thing as a natural-born killer but genetic make-up may make a person more likely to commit criminal or antisocial acts.?