| By :
Jamie Simpson
Identity theft has become one of the most commonly occurring crimes in the United States and the world. A study was done that found that about 14 million Americans reported being victims of identity theft in a period of about two and a half years. That averages to about 6 million victims of identity theft per year. There is no question that identity theft can ruin the financial life of its victims. Therefore, many people are interested in protecting themselves from this crime in the best ways possible. One simple way that you can use to your advantage to protect against identity theft is to check your credit report regularly. You are allowed to have one free credit report check each year from all three of the major credit bureaus. If you space out your credit checks regularly, then you can have one every four months for free. If you feel that you need to check it more often, then you will have to pay to check again. Each of the three bureaus do calculate your credit in slightly different fashions, so don't be alarmed if your score varies ever so slightly from one to the other. A slight variation is meant to happen. However, if your credit score seems to be a lot lower then you would have expected, then you might need to become concerned. It could just be the case that you have not kept up well enough with your score, and thus it is lower then you would have expected. However, if you have been diligent with your credit and your credit score and it is still low, then you might want to raise the red flag. If you score has really taken a nose dive, then you may be the victim of identity theft. If someone has stolen your identity, then there is no doubt that they will begin to try to ruin your credit as soon as they possibly can. If you notice unusual purchases on your bank statement, then you may also have a probably. You must report this crime to the proper authorities as soon as possible. You also need to inform your bank and contact your credit card company to have them deactivate the card. If you are lucky, you will be able to prove that your identity was stolen, and hopefully you will get your money back. There are other ways in which you can fight identity theft, however just a simple check of your credit report is probably the easiest and cheapest way to accomplish this. Anytime you suspect that you identity may have been stolen, you must report it and take the proper steps as soon as possible to avoid financial ruin.
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