It's not always what it seems

You see a lot of hype on tv, in the newspaper, even in recent spam, about the risks of identity theft.

The whole thing is just way overblown though. These days they call credit card theft or unauthorized use of a credit card identity theft. The difference between the risks levels of a stolen credit card and a stolen identity are huge though. They aren't the same thing at all.

All you have to do to protect yourself from risks of credit card theft is to keep track of your credit cards and when one is missing to report it. You're covered. Most of the risk is carried by the credit card issuer.

Identity theft is when someone uses your identity to apply for new credit, credit you don't even know about until it goes into default. That's a problem and can be a nightmare to clear up.

But the two things are just very different, news shows and stories that conflate the two are doing the public a huge disservice.