Identity Theft

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.” Matthew 24:23-25

Have you ever been a victim of identity theft? Identity theft is a serious crime that is very common around us today. It can be as serious as one person impersonating another person. It can be your credit card number being stolen and someone else using it. Identity theft comes in numerous forms.

I have been a victim of identity theft a few times. A few weeks ago, I got this text from my credit card company, “Fraud alert! $29.99 was spent in California. If this was you press 1 for ‘Yes.’ If this wasn’t you press 2 for ‘No.’” What the credit card company does is they monitor your account activities. When they notice an unusual transaction, something that looks out the norm, they will deny the transaction and notify me of it right away. Well, I didn’t spend that money. And I was nowhere close to California as I was in my district that day! I called up the company and spoke with the ‘Fraud’ team. To prevent further issues from the identity thief, they suspended my account right away and sent me a new credit card the following day. This all happened because somewhere my credit card number was exposed and the thief tried to use my card number to make a purchase. That wasn’t me, it was a fake me. The card company found out because the system was able to read my spending habits, where I live, and such information(it’s kind of scary when you think about how you are being monitored).

The Bible warns us about false christs and false teachings in the end-times, which is the time we are now living in. Identity theft is what the Enemy is doing today and we must be aware of it. It may even sneak among us in the form of truth. The best way to prevent this form of identity theft in the end-times is to be faithful to the Word of God. Just as the card company had been monitoring me, thus being able to figure out unusual spending, we must also carefully study His Word so that we can know what is genuine or not.