The pandemic may have slowed down some businesses in 2020, but identity thieves were busy. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 1.4 million people were victims of identity theft, more than triple the number from 2018.
What Is Identity Theft?
The term “identity theft” was coined in 1964. However, it wasn’t until decades later—in 1998—that there was a generally accepted definition. That was a result of the Identity Theft Assumption and Deterrence Act, which also made identity theft a federal crime. Today, we typically use identity theft to describe when someone uses your personal information such as your ...