Beware of These New Cellphone Identity Theft Scams

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Identity Theft and Cellphones  

According to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), cellular fraud is defined as "the unauthorized use, tampering or manipulation of a cellular phone or service." The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tracked consumer complaints of identity theft from fraudulent cell phone scams and reported its findings in an annual Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Of the 250,854 identity theft complaints reported in 2010, the wireless or cellphone category accounted for 3.7 percent, or 9,282, of them. Cellphone use is escalating and, most likely, so will the number of related identity-theft complaints. In addition, technology-savvy criminals will continue to develop new cellphone scams that we'll have to confront.