The current national average of employment fraud is 14 percent of all reported identity theft occurrences. Employment fraud comes in two styles with the first type being where someone steals your social security number to get employment. With the ever increasing influx of illegal immigrants looking for work in the United States, the chance of somebody using your social security number to find gainful employment is on the rise. In fact, about two percent of victims over the age of 60 reported that an identity thief used their personal information for employment purposes. While you can reduce the possibility of this crime by keeping tight control of who has access to your social security number, there are no guarantees as many of these illegal immigrants will pick as social security number at random. While most people utilizing this method are simply people looking for work and not true identity thieves, the method is still illegal and can cause some negative effects for the victim. One reason that this type of fraud is so hard to contain is that farmers and packers are much more concerned about the getting cheap labor then they are with following regulations dealing with employment fraud by illegal immigrants.

The second type of employment fraud should be particularly concerning to most Americans as this is the practice of a thief obtaining employment in small businesses such as doctor’s offices, dentists, and banks to gain access to patient or customer records. Because it is the responsibility of a business to keep their records safe, there is very little an individual can do about this type of crime other then choose only well known and reputable businesses with a strong privacy policy. Employment fraud of this type is one of the most common forms of fraud and often goes unprosecuted. If someone obtains employment for the purpose of stealing personal information, there are currently no laws if effect that will help to track that person after they have been fired or quit. In addition, this type of problem can happen because of normal employees who are 100% honest but a bit on the lazy side. The company may have a policy of shredding all sensitive documents but the lazy employee may decide that it is much easier to dump all paperwork in recycle bins when the boss is not looking.

Lifelock can help keep you from becoming a victim of identity theft and employment fraud.