LifeLock Blog

Count out 10 seconds. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Five more people just became identity theft victims. With so many victims, so many criminals and so much loss, The US Department of Justice considers it a greater threat than even drug trafficking.

And, what if it happens to you? Expect to spend at least 400 hours trying to fix it. But you won’t take 10 weeks off work; you’ll try to clear things up before, during and after work. Expect it to take at least seven months, but don’t expect to ever be done with it.

Even after spending months or years trying to clean up the mess left after identity theft, identity theft victims say there is still a lingering residue in their lives—higher insurance rates, higher interest rates, higher credit rates. Victims also report having a hard time getting jobs because of their fouled credit records.

But the effects of ID theft aren’t limited to time and money. Identity theft victims report the same aftereffects as victims of domestic violence, rape or assault. They say they feel unsupported by friends, family and mates. They say their family lives suffered greatly increased stress levels, and attribute it to displaced anger and frustration. Divorces and ended relationships occur at higher rates after identity theft.

And these are the effects of financial identity theft. Imagine what life is like for victims of medical identity theft. If someone else uses your identity to obtain medical care, their blood type, drug allergies and medical conditions become part of your medical record, and can kill you.

At the very least, expect it to be nearly impossible to make your insurance company pay for a second appendectomy if a medical identity thief has already had his appendix removed while posing as you.

Even before drivers were required to carry auto insurance, millions of people paid for the protection. Nobody has to carry identity theft protection, but millions of people do it. In fact, almost 1.5 million of them are LifeLock members. Visit LifeLock.com today to find out why. Enroll using the LifeLock promo code Defense and get the lowest price available.