What are some of the ways identity thieves steal an identity?
Identity theft starts with the misuse of your personally identifying information such as your name and Social Security number, credit card numbers, or other financial account information. For identity thieves, this information is as good as gold.
Skilled identity thieves may use a variety of methods to get hold of your information, including:
- Dumpster Diving. Identity thief’s rummage through trash looking for credit card bills, tax forms, medical records, bank account information, legal forms, phone bills or other paper with your personal information on it. But don’t think the criminals just dive into dumpsters. Often a ringleader will bring with him/her a group who will systematically search the actual landfill site and look for official documents that may have been discarded by large, ethical institutions/companies, use your imagination here, not everything that is thrown in the garbage should be thrown in the garbage. Identity thieves will also target specific neighbourhoods and steel the garbage bag/can and examine the contents later. Don’t discard any personally identifying information, buy a confetti-cut paper shredder that does not produce strips of paper that are easily re-assembled.
- Skimming. In the beginning Skimming was only happening in a few retail stores, but now is happening anywhere, please use your imagination here. Some Police Officers will tell you it’s an epidemic. The criminal will bribe the employee(s) to let them install hidden cameras and scanners in the store. The criminal may offer $5000 to set up for the week or $100 for each card skimmed and when many of these employees are making minimum wage, the offer is tempting.The identity thief’s steal the electronic information from your credit card and debit card by using a high tech, hand held device where the thief or accomplice swipes your card through the device when you are not looking. Then there are the ‘Trojan skimmers’ that hold a computer chip and fit over the top of the real card reader. To gain your Personal Identification Number (PIN) a tiny camera may be hidden overhead in the ceiling tile or it may be the clerk or someone behind you in line watching as you punch it in. This electronic data is then used to produce fake debit cards or credit cards to steal money from the bank accounts or purchase expensive watches, clothing, jewellery and the cost is left in your name. So far as your debit card is concerned all you have to do is cover your pin with your hand to protect yourself and break the cycle. You should also swipe the card yourself whenever possible. If the employee has to take your credit card or debit card never let either leave your sight. If your using a credit card in a restaurant go with the server to pay and carry it yourself until they have to swipe it. The epidemic of card swiping will continue to grow until consumers like you start taking more pre-cautions.
- Phishing. The term is a variant of fishing, and that’s what the Identity Thief’s do, they go phishing with increasingly sophisticated bait. Phishing is an illegal attempt to gain your confidential information while your seated at your computer. They are after info like usernames, passwords and credit card details and they do it by pretending (online) to be trustworthy financial institutions or companies asking you to enter critical information. eBay, PayPal and online banks are often targeted. Often the bogus e-mail will ask for some sort of verification, possibly about an account number or password, because they are carrying out an auditing process and because these e-mails look so official, up to 20% of the unsuspecting recipients will take the bait and become victims of financial loss or identity theft or both. Emails, instant messaging, spam, pop-up messages and similar methods are used to direct you to a web-site that looks darn close to your financial institutions web-site and then you are are requested to enter your crucial data. Recently, senior executives and other high profile persons in business have been specifically targeted and the term ‘whaling’ has been coined. Before phishing was an issue, legitimate businesses and banks would rarely ask you for your personal data by way of e-mail. If you do receive a request, call the business or financial institution and ask questions or log onto the legitimate web-site. Look for grammatical errors and typing mistakes because more than one should set off your alarm. If the e-mail is referring to a web-site then look very carefully at the URL. It is not difficult to disguise a link to a site so be conscious of the @ symbol because most browsers will ignore any character that is ahead of the @ symbol, so this web address…http://www.legitimateinstitution.com@IamIdentityThief.com….may appear to be a page of Legitimate Institution’s site. However, it will take the unsuspecting victim to IamIdentityThief.com The more length the URL has, the easier it is to hide the real destination address. Different ways to disguise URLs is by substituting similar looking characters, so that paypal.com could be (and has been) paypa1.com (do you see how the l was substituted for number 1) An identity thief can also substitute the letter O for a 0 (zero) If you haven’t already, you should buy a good internet security product You should consider a program that will protect your identity when your online banking and shopping, that will detect suspicious web sites, that can verify and authenticate valid web sites, that can intercept phishing mail, blocks keysroke loggers and screen captures and encrypts and protects your passwords.
- Mail Diversion. As a matter of fact, last year the U.S. Postal Service handled 213 billion pieces of mail for a delivery base of 146 million addresses, with roughly 741,000 employees. Identity thief’s will pretend they are you and complete a ‘change of address form’ and divert your mail to another address. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, and investigates cases of identity theft. The USPIS has primary jurisdiction in all matters infringing on the integrity of the U.S. mail. If an identity thief has falsified change-of-address forms report it to your nearest postal inspector. You can locate the nearest USPIS district office by phoning your local postal office, viewing the Blue Pages of your phone book or log on at www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect Also,pay attention to delivery cycles of your mail and know the approximate day that your various bills and statements should arrive. If your credit card, utility bills, financial statements or cheques fail to arrive, then you must contact the institution right away and ask them if the documents have been sent out
- Pretexting. Pretexters sell your information to people who may use it to get credit in your name, to steal your assets, or to investigate or sue you. Pretexting is against the law. Many of these identity thief’s are superb con artists and if they chose to pursue a career in high end sales, they would make a fortune. Pretexing is when the identity thief gets on the phone and lies to you in such a manner that you think he/she is, for example, from a research firm. He/she will ask you your name, address, birthdate, mothers maiden name, place of employment and social security number and more. And they will ask these questions in a most convincing and believable way. When the identity thief has the necessary information, he/she will use it to call your bank or financial institution. Now they pretend to be you or someone with authorized access to your account. He might say that he’s forgotten his checkbook and needs information about his account. Now the identity thief may be able to gain other personal information about you such as your bank and credit card numbers, information in your credit report and how much money is in your savings account and investment portfolio. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, we have to remember that some information about ourselves may be a matter of public record, such as whether you own a house or other real estate, how much property tax you pay, or if you have ever filed for bankruptcy. It is not pretexing for another person to collect this kind of information.
Protect Your Identity: For only $10 per month, you can protect yourself and your loved ones from great financial harm and long term, time-consuming credit and associated legal difficulties with LifeLock’s proactive, industry-leading identity theft protection backed by a $1 million service guarantee. ENROLL NOW Provide Promo Code RV42 and receive 10% Discount! |
By law, it’s illegal for anyone to:
- use false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution.
- use forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution.
- ask another person to get someone else’s customer information using false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or using false, fictitious or fraudulent documents, or forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents.
7. Pickpocketing.
