Utility identity theft
March 25th, 2010
Utility identity theft
Identity theft is one crime that has been on the rise in the recent past more than ever before. By definition, identity theft involves obtaining personal information of another person by fraudulent means and using it at the expense of the owner and to the benefit of such fraudster. Identity thefts are of different types. Some of the common types of identity theft include medical identity theft, internet identity theft, and utility identity theft among others. It is unbelievable to see how far fraudsters can go. Perhaps this is just an indication of how greedy people can be for money. A utility is a basic commodity that is of utmost necessity in the day to day life of a human being. Examples of utilities include water, electricity, housing, transport and education facilities among others. Unbelievably, fraudsters also target such commodities in their dubious activities. Beau Black would never have thought at any one time that he would fall victim of identity theft until one day when his power was disconnected. On calling the utility company, he was informed that he had called earlier asking that his power be disconnected. It was clear that a fraudster was behind all this. Upon explaining his case together with other people who had fallen victims of the same, his power was reconnected. It was later discovered that Mr Beaus’s electricity account was easily hacked since his password was not protected. Most utility companies have now come up with various programs to ensure that the vital details of their customers are well protected. Another method that utility companies are using to ensure that the interests of their customers are well safeguarded is by sending email or phone alerts any time a transaction takes place in the account of the customer, including change of address. The major goal of utility identity fraudsters is either to evade payment of utility bills or to impersonate the utility provider companies and thus attempt to collect the bills from the customers without knowledge of the utility provider company. Utility companies have also advised their customers to ensure that they have a private address through which their utility bills can be directed. Again, if a utility bill is no longer in use, it would be best to destroy it as opposed to trashing it. This makes it difficult for fraudsters to obtain any valuable information regarding your utility services. It is also important to frequently check your bills and ensure that all transactions reflected in the bill took place under your authorization. This would easily help detect any fishy transactions in your account.
