What is Identity Theft?

In the course of a busy day, you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car, mail your tax returns, change service providers for your cell phone, or apply for a credit card. Chances are you don’t give these everyday transactions a second thought. But an identity thief does.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years – and thousands of dollars – cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of their identity records and credit record. In the meantime, victims of identity theft may lose job opportunities, be refused loans for education, housing, or cars, and even get arrested for crimes they didn’t commit. Humiliation, anger, and frustration are among the feelings victims experience as they navigate the process of rescuing their identity.

I first was notified that someone had used my Social Security number for their taxes in February 2004. I also found out that this person opened a checking account, cable and utility accounts, and a cell phone account in my name. I’m still trying to clear up everything and just received my income tax refund after waiting four to five months. Trying to work and get all this cleared up is very stressful.

Despite your best efforts to manage the flow of your personal information or to keep it to yourself, skilled identity thieves use an assortment of methods to gain access to your data for use in a variety of ways.

They get information from businesses or other institutions by:

• Records or information while they’re on the job
• Bribing an employee who has access to records
• Hacking records
• Conning information out of employees
• Stealing your mail, including bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks, and tax information
• Rummaging through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice known as “dumpster diving”
• Obtaining your credit reports by abusing their employer’s authorized access to them, or by posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legal right to access your report
• Stealing your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device in a practice known as “skimming.” They may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or attach the device to an ATM machine where you may enter or swipe your card
• Stealing your wallet or purse
• Stealing personal information from your home
• Stealing personal information from you through email or phone by posing as legitimate companies and claiming that you have a problem with your account. This practice is known as “phishing” online, or “pretexting” by phone
• Calling your credit card issuer to change the billing address on your credit card account. The imposter then runs up charges on your account. Because your bills are being sent to a different address, it may be some time before you realize there‘s a problem.
• Opening new credit card accounts in your name. When they use the credit cards and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent accounts are reported on your credit report.
• Establishing phone or wireless service in your name.
• Opening a bank account in your name and writing bad checks on that account
• Counterfeiting checks or credit or debit cards, or authorize electronic transfers in your name, and drain your bank account