Identity theft crimes are on the rise all across the world according to the most recent statistics. One of the biggest reasons behind the surge is the fact that the information age has made personal information so readily available through so many resources. In fact, the statistics show a surge in identity theft crimes in direct proportion to the adoption of the Internet. As more people go online, and more agencies publish public information on the web, the incidence of identity theft only increases.
In principle, identity theft is not difficult - even though the means of committing such crimes is rather sophisticated. Being an identity thief simply means finding creative ways to procure the information you need and then using it for as long as possible without being caught. The best identity thieves can make an entire lifelong career without ever facing arrest or prosecution. How do they do it? Read on to find out.
Sources of Information
Whether identity thieves are targeting individual consumers or businesses, their sources of information are pretty similar. In fact, you might be surprised at some of the things that can be used to obtain enough information to steal your identity. Below is just a small sample of those things, including:
- public records such as tax documents and court proceedings
- newspaper clippings and advertisements
- online classifieds
- credit card receipts
- bills
- junk mail
- magazine and newspaper subscriptions
- personal blogs and photo sharing sites
- social networking websites
Stealing Your Information
For any identity thief to get started he must first steal the necessary information. Keep in mind that he doesn't need to know everything about you early on in the process. All he needs is your name and one or two other pieces of information that can point him in the direction of any additional information he might need. Oftentimes a full legal name and an account number from something like a utility bill is enough to get started.
The identity thief is counting on your carelessness in protecting your information. For example, how many stories have you read in the newspaper about laptop computers being stolen? It happens so often that if you search any number of online news websites you'll see too many stories to count. Thieves are able to steal laptops because owners and users are careless. They hang out at places like coffee shops, libraries, and shopping center parking lots just waiting for victims to leave their laptops unattended.
Carelessness also extends to our mailboxes and credit card receipts to the extent that we do not protect these things. Credit card receipts should always be shredded if they are no longer needed. Otherwise, they should be stored in a secure place. Postal mail should also be shredded rather than being thrown in the recycle bin or the trash can. Lastly, the same thing can be said for any bills you receive at your home. Store them in a secure place until it's time to discard them, at which point they should be shredded.
Attacking you Online
Another place where thieves are looking for carelessness is online. They often hang around on forums, chat rooms, game rooms, and anyplace else they can find unsuspecting victims. By engaging in what seems to be casual conversation, they can often elicit enough information from victims to get the identity theft process underway. They also troll sites like FaceBook and Twitter looking for unsuspecting victims who allow all their information to be freely seen by anyone.
Identity thieves don't just attack you when you're browsing the web, either. They also send out emails meant to look like they come from legitimate sources, as a means of convincing you to enter sensitive information. Typically they will try to represent themselves as a legitimate bank, credit card company, travel agency, or some other company that might have need of your personal information. One tip off that you're being attacked is when an e-mail is sent that does not address you directly by your first and last name.
Using Stolen Information
Once your information is stolen an identity thief can do any number of things. The nature of the crime means that, more often than not, the thief will simply use your information to simply withdraw cash or to purchase consumer goods that can be quickly sold. Most identity thieves are not in the business of doing things that will quickly draw attention to themselves, so it's highly unlikely your identity would be stolen and used to transact real estate deals.
That said, it's not unheard of for identity thieves to attempt to purchase big-ticket items by opening credit in your name. More than one RV and boat dealer has been fooled by identity thieves and allowed vehicles to pull off a lot, all the while being none the wiser. It takes a special kind of thief with a lot of audacity to pull off something like this, but it does happen.
Committing Crimes in Your Name
A more sinister means of using your stolen identity has to do with committing certain types of crimes. Some of the more sophisticated thieves have no interest in using your identity for small potatoes like purchase consumer goods. Rather, they use it to conduct serious crimes like drug trafficking, child pornography, and importation of weapons. Using a stolen identity allows such criminals to rent office space, rent vehicles, open bank accounts, and so on.
Protecting Yourself
There's more to identity theft than what we discussed here, that's for sure. The easiest way to sum all of it up is to simply remind you that thieves are counting on you to be careless so they can steal your identity. As long as you do your due diligence to make sure you protect your sensitive information at all costs, you should be able to avoid becoming a victim.
One final note: if any of your credit card companies or insurance providers offers identity theft protection you should strongly consider using it. It's relatively inexpensive when you consider the fact that such protection not only helps you avoid becoming a victim, but helps you clean up the mess if their protection fails. In today's age of readily available information it is simply foolish to go through life without any sort of protection.