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By now, each adult must recognise that identity theft is the quickest growing crime in America. It has become an epidemic, leaving everyone at risk, including children, adults, the elderly, those with good credit, bad credit, or no credit. And, to make matters worse, most persons do not know if their identity has been stolen.
The biggest misconception is that identity theft only affects or involves your credit. If you, too, believe that identity theft only affects or involves your credit, then you might want to keep reading.
In addition to credit related identity theft, there are at least four other categories of identity theft that will not inevitably affect your credit, but may demolish your life. The following are real life stories.
1. Character identity theft. Someone impersonates you and commits a crime in your name resulting in warrantees issued in your name, arrests made, and time expended in jail.
Donna has been impersonated by her sister for galore years. Unfortunately for Donna, her sister has an broad criminal record. In order to clear her name, Donna has had to hire an attorney. She has been told that once your name is affiliated with a crime, it may never come off.
Someone with a criminal record stole Harry’s wallet. Unbeknownst to Harry, the thief then consecrated various crimes in Harry’s name. Unfortunately, this criminal action was entered into the database of a background check company that provides data to potential employers. Harry lost his occupation and has been unable to find work because of the untrue information.
Three years ago, Jane’s purse was stolen by an individual she knew. The identity thief purchased a car with Jane’s ID and devoted other crimes in Jane’s name (writing bad checks and burglary). No one in law enforcement believes Jane when she says she is not the criminal, not even the District Attorney who is charging her with the crimes.
John, a man from San Diego, traveled to Mexico to visit his relatives. On his way back home, he was stopped and told that there was an arrest warrant issued in his name. Apparently, an individual had been committing crimes in his name and using his Social Security number. John was arrested and taken to San Francisco where he expended 10 days in jail. After at long last convincing a police office that he was not the criminal, John was freed and left stranded without any money.
2. Social Security Number (SSN) identity theft. Someone steals your SSN and incurs employment in your name. The thief’s employer reports wages earned to the IRS under your SSN leaving you to pay income taxes on these earnings. Further, an identity thief’s use of your SSN may cause you to lose life sustaining benefits.
Paul received a letter from the IRS stating that he had earned further and added income in 2003. Paul never earned this further and added income. An identity thief employed Paul’s SSN and earned wages in Paul’s name. Now Paul’s credit is ruined, and the IRS wants to be paid.
Alex lost his wallet, and he never bothered to report it to the police. In 2005, he filed his tax return and expected a refund. Instead, he received nothing. The IRS withheld his refund check to remunerate off back taxes he owed from 2002. Apparently in 2002, an individual had used Alex’s SSN to earn wages in Alex’s name. This “unreported income” left Alex with a $9000 tax bill.
Someone has been using Mary’s SSN to earn wages. Mary, who had been receiving AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) benefits, lost her gains because income records show her as having a salary.
Jack used for jobless benefits, but he was refused because records showed that he was genuinely working. Apparently, someone in another city had been using his SSN to earn wages in his name. Jack was told that he had to prove that his identity had been stolen.
3. Medical identity theft. Someone steals your identity and either incurs medical insurance in your name or uses your current medical insurance policy to obtain treatment or prescriptions. You may be refused health coverage or lose your current health coverage because of untrue selective information placed in your medical record.
An identity thief received treatment for an injury to his hand using a stolen identity. Now, the identity theft victim has been receiving letters demanding payment for drugs and services rendered to the thief.
4. Driver’s license identity theft. Someone commits traffic affiliated offenses in your name. When the identity thief fails to appear in court, warrantees are issued in your name.
In 2003, Alex’s driver’s license was revoked because he had another driver’s license in another state revoked due to criminal charges. In addition, Alex had warrantees out for his arrest in the other state. After when it comes to a year of working to clear his name, Alex’s driver’s license was reinstated.
An identity thief with a poor driving record received a copy of Sara’s driver’s license. Now, because of the identity thief’s poor driving record, Sara’s license has been suspended, and she is in danger of losing her automati insurance.
5. Credit identity theft. Someone uses your info to obtain loans, goods, or services and does not recompense the bills. The accumulating unpaid bills end up going to collection, which may affect your credit.
For over six years, Kate has been a victim of identity theft. Even a fraud alert placed on her credit report has not stopped the identity thief. As a result, Kate may not buy a home because of bad credit.
An identity thief wrote bad checks and opened various credit card accounts in Erica’s name. Consequently, Erica’s application to open her own bank account was denied. Erica has had to hire an attorney to clear her name. This has cost her over $4,500.
So, you may see that once an identity thief has your identity, he/she may do just when it comes to anything including ruining your life. Don’t think you are immune. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there have been at least 111 disclosed incidents of info breaches since January 2005 that could potentially expose 53 million humans to identity theft. This number is steadily increasing. Further, according to the FTC, over 27,000 persons per day have their identities stolen in America.
Your info is not safe. As long as others (employers, credit card companies, medical facilities, etc.) have your private information, you are always at danger for identity theft. All it takes is for an employer to lose your data or give it away or one person/employee to steal the information. A cellular phone company experienced just that when laborers applied client info to fabricate fraudulent accounts. The bogus accounts were employed by the thieves and their friends to ring up thousands of dollars in calls.
When it comes to protecting your identity, being proactive is the only practical way to go to stay clear from the frustration, time, and expense of restoring your identity and name. Some things you may do to prevent identity theft include not giving out your personal information, shredding not wanted mail, and not carrying your SSN card with you. Also, neverending credit monitoring is an easy, effective and often inexpensive way of keeping an eye on your credit at all times to help prevent credit affiliated identity theft.
Driver Playstation
Real Car Physics and Damage You are the Wheelman for the Criminal Underworld… Just make it Happen..
- Amazon Sales Rank: #8886 in Video Games
- Brand: GT Interactive Software
- Released on: 1999-06-28
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Platform: PlayStation
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .40″ h x 4.90″ w x 5.60″ l, .31 pounds
| Amazon.co.ukDriver combines Grand Theft Auto-style missions with Colin McRae Rally driving. You are Tanner, an undercover cop posing as a getaway driver with the goal of exposing a national crime ring. Passing the driving test to open up the game is the original “challenge”–and it may be a challenge. You have a fixed time to finish a number of driving maneuvers in a ridiculously powerful car. But speed is what Driver is all about, and these attainments do make it easier–the reverse 180 is a fine way to shake off the law as they pursue you all over the streets of New York, Miami, L.A., or San Francisco. Once into the game, you do respective driving jobs where speed and knowing the streets are a definitive bonus. Timing is also crucial: arrive too early or with a tail, and you blow the mission; arrive too late, and your target will be gone. Outside the story line, Driver likewise holds littler basic driving games, such as Trailblazer and Pursuit modes, permitting you to flex your car’s muscle without jeopardizing anything–except the safety of your fellow road users. Control of the car does border on the unrealistic side, but at least this enables you to throw your car around a bit. Ultimately, it adds to the addictive nature of the game, since driving the car is great fun in itself. The graphics are shockingly good for the PlayStation, and the animated clips add to the ’70s ambiance. Overall, Driver is veritably worthy of the accolades it has received, and if you don’t own it, you in all likelihood aren’t getting the best out of your PlayStation. –Chris Hall
Pros:
- Strong graphics
- Intriguing story line enhances the racing action
Cons:
- Unrealistic control may be off-putting to die-hard racing fans
GameSpot ReviewIt’s hard to compare Driver to any one game – you could closely say it’s a 3D Grand Theft Auto except you’re never on foot. You could almost say that it’s just like the driving percentage of Die Hard Trilogy except the cops chase you. Perhaps the best comparison would be to say Driver is just like Destruction Derby in a city with cops, traffic, and mission-based gameplay. After all, the same company makes both games. But that wouldn’t be reasonable either, because while Driver resembles a lot of games, it’s actually rather unique, and fun. You play the role of Tanner, a former racecar driver turned policeman. Thanks to your past driving experience, you are chosen to go undercover as a wheelman for hire to investigate the Castaldi family, the underworld’s most dangerous organization. Before you may go through the game’s story mode you ought to finish an extreme driving test that is genuinely hard. You are asked to finish respective driving maneuvers, such as a 360, a reverse 180, a slalom course, and other modern driving proficiencies that will mainly help you later in the game. Once you finish this test, you may commence taking jobs. Just with regards to all the respective jobs consist of getting someplace to pick somebody or something up, or dropping somebody or something off before the time limit expires. Some of the most pleasurable missions, however, are the ones in which you must ram a fleeing vehicle until it’s disabled. To help you find your way through the vast cities, there is an onscreen map that shows you the emplacement of your goal to be attained point and the streets that you may use to get there. This map is exceedingly helpful and makes the game more when it comes to driving and less when it comes to navigating your way through the cities – a problem that Grand Theft Auto suffered from. In total, there are four cities to progress through. You’ll commence off in Miami then move on to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and ultimately New York. Each city has with regards to ten missions apiece, though after the original two cities the missions become a little repetitive. The change of scenery helps keep the gameplay fresh. When you’re not in the mood for Driver’s undercover story mode, the game features assorted other play modes to try. There is free ride mode that merely lets you go around the respective cities and explore them at your own pace. You may also try any one of the driving games, which are fundamentally generic missions like pursuit, getaway, and survival. The major obstacles in your undercover crime escapades are the regular cops patrolling the streets. They don’t know that you’re an undercover cop (and even if they did, ignoring your actions would in all probability blow your cover), so they plainly come after you when they see you rolling past. They stop you by slamming into your car until the harm meter is full, signifying the destruction of your car. They aren’t all that smart and in truth aren’t too big of a threat in little numbers. But if you get yourself backed into a corner with a few of them on you, it may be a tricky to get away. Graphically, Driver is fair. The cars, objects, and environments look a bit blocky and pixelated from a distance, but these parts sharpen in detail as you get closer. The cities themselves are rather elaborated and are amazingly huge – you genuinely get a sense of being there. The gravity in the game seems a bit on the light side, making the games crashes and jumps a little more dramatic, as they were in Demolition Derby. Some persons might not like the game’s exaggerated physics, but I thought they made it a bit more fun. The speed of the game slows down a lot when there are various cars on the screen at once. The CG movies amongst numerous missions look rather poor and aren’t all that interesting. The music and sound effects in Driver are rather good. The ’70s funk music genuinely gives the game a gritty underworld feel that puts you in the mood for a heap of lawbreaking action. The sound effects are all genuinely rather well done, which regrettably can’t be said for the voices of the characters in the game. Overall, Driver is a game that might be mediocre in it is formally presenting something but more than makes up for it in it is gameplay and concept. The best thing with regards to Driver is the sentiment you get when you’re speeding away from the fuzz after smashing your way through a roadblock. It’s the sentiment of approaching doom – which may only be get over by keeping your wits in regards to you and your thumb on the gas – that makes playing Driver rather fun. –Ryan Mac Donald
–Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in percentage in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
 Everything you want to do on the road in real life, but dont
By A
It’s about time! Finally a game with real-life driving through real cities with total real-life situations. This game is a blast. Whether you’re doing donuts in the street or lawn, smashing other cars for fun, fish-tailing around corners, scaring the pedestrians, or in a high-speed pursuit with Johnny Law…this game is extremely hard to put down! Worth every penny! I am eagerly awaiting a sequel!
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
 A solid driving game with a sense of adventure
By A
Although not as sleek or sophisticated as some of the other driving games on the market, Driver does provide something the others do not. A sense of adventure. The game does not force feed a load of cartoonish or mindless sets of missions, but rather provides a well developed story line that gets the gamer engrossed in the situations and circumstances the character finds himself in. Other great attributes of the game are the tons of “extras” included besides the main storyline. You can have hours of fun just driving around a particular city, getting chased by the Fuzz or chasing targets and demolishing them. The movie style replays are also very cool to watch after completing a mission. The analog controller is very well adapted for playing this game, with the vibrations complementing the Sound Effects perfectly. I recommend this game to any gamer of any age. It is a solid game and you won’t be disappointed.
37 of 44 people found the following review helpful.
Wow..
By A
There’s a reason why this was the best selling video game of 1999. When I popped this into my playstation for the first time..allmost exactly a year ago, I expected a lot, this coming from the people that brought me Destruction Derby, a game that has given me countless hours of entertainment. Driver delivered, big time. They created a free-roam city enviroment that was just incredible. The civillian cars, the police, the 70′s muscle cars..how can you not love this game?
The game has the undercover mode, which is the actual game itself, in which you play Tanner, the undercover cop that plays freelance Driver for the mob. Tons of missions, tons of beautiful cutscenes with an involving plotline that concludes with a twist I dont think anybody expected.
The game has Mini-Games, where you can see how long you can run from the cops, see if you can follow and trash a specific car in the shortest time possible, or try your hand at the practice course. The game also has the Take A Drive mode, which lets you take your car and do whatever you want with it.
That’s where the fun begins. Especially with citys like San Francisco, where you’ve got some nice hills, you can record police crashes that are absolutely incredible. Very few games have given me this much entertainment.
And to top this masterpeice off, we get some of the most classic 70′s music ever created. This is a must-buy, if you havent allready.
See all 108 customer reviews…
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