A new category of crooks called an identity thieves have appeared the past 15 years who steal your identity to commit crimes.  In our automated and computerized economy, your everyday transactions reveal bits of your personal information: your bank and credit card account numbers; your income; your Social Security number (SSN); your name, address, and phone numbers.  An identity thief obtains some piece of your personal information and uses it without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft either against you or others masquerading as you.

Identity theft is a serious crime.  People whose identities have been stolen can spend months, even years, of their time and money, cleaning up the chaos identity thieves have made of their name and credit record.  Some identity thief victims have lost job opportunities, been refused credit cards, education loans, car loans, and mortgages.  Some have even been arrested for crimes they did not commit, but were committed by a thief using their name.

One morning you wake up and find out that you aren’t you anymore.  Someone else has become “you” and you are doing terrible things and committing crimes.

How Identity Thieves Get Your Personal Information

Identity thieves get hold of your personal information in many ways.  The most common are:

Identity thieves steal wallets and purses containing your identification, credit, and bank cards.

Identity thieves steal your incoming or outgoing mail, including your bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit card offers, new checks, and tax information.

Identity thieves file a “change of address form” with the U.S. Post Office to divert your mail to another location, or they contact your creditors to change the address on your accounts.

Identity thieves search through your trash, or the trash of businesses you are dealing with, for personal information.  This is called “dumpster diving.”

Identity thieves fraudulently obtain your credit report by posing as a potential landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legitimate need and legal right to your information.

Identity thieves find personal information in your home including your bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit card offers, checks, tax information, credit, and bank cards, etc.

Identity thieves use personal information you share on the Internet.

Identity thieves scam you, through email, pop-ups, mail, or the phone, by posing as legitimate companies or even government agencies you do business with. This is called “phishing.”

Identity thieves get your personal information from the workplace in a practice known as “business record theft” by: stealing files out of offices where you are a customer, employee, patient, or student; or by bribing an employee who has access to your files; or by “hacking” into the electronic files over the internet.

How Identity Thieves Use Your Personal Information

Identity thieves use your personal information for a number of fraud and theft crimes against you, or other persons and businesses masquerading as you.  Some of the more common identity thefts are:

Identity thieves call your credit card company and pretending to be you, ask to change the mailing address on your credit card account.  The identity thief then runs up charges on your credit card for high ticket and easily sold items such as stereos and TV’s.  As your credit card bills are being sent to the new address, it may take some time before you realize something is wrong.  By that time, the identity thief is gone and you are stuck proving that these charges were not made by you and that you were not late in making the payments.

Identity thieves open a new credit card accounts in your name, using your date of birth and SSN.  When they use the credit cards and do not pay the bills, the late payments are reported on your credit report.  As you do not know the account even exists, you do not know that you have these debts, late payments, and collection accounts until you apply for credit.

Identity thieves open phone or cell phone service in your name and run up charges or commit other crimes using “your” phone.  You apply for credit to find out that you have debts, late payments, and collection accounts, and that “you” may have committed crimes.

Identity thieves open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account.  You find out you are “wanted” for passing bad checks.

Identity thieves file for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying the debts they have incurred masquerading as you, or to avoid eviction from an apartment they rented as “you.”  An apartment they may have used to commit other crimes.

Identity thieves counterfeit your checks or debit cards and then drain your bank account.

Identity thieves give your name to the police and masquerade as you during an arrest.  If they are released from police custody on bail and do not show up for their court date, an arrest warrant is then issued for you.  You are stopped and arrested or have the police show up at your home to arrest you with no idea that “you” committed a crime.  The police and the Judge are not impressed with your assurance that “It wasn’t me Officer.  I am innocent!”, especially since they have already let you out on bail on your crimes.

In today’s highly automated and computerized society, it is impossible to completely avoid the risk of identity theft unless you go completely underground.  However, you can deduce your risk of identify theft.  Please read our “Reducing Your Risk To Identity Theft” section.