How Identity Theft Occurs

One of the best ways to protect yourself from identity theft is by knowing how it happens in the first place. Some of the methods that thieves use to get their hands on your identity are actually beyond your control, however, which is why it is best to engage a service that can detect the earliest stages of an identity theft at work and put a stop to it before it goes too far. Here are some of the ways that identity thieves ply their trade:

Phishing

Pronounced "fishing", this cyber crime started small, then exploded in popularity as it proved that there were plenty of people out there who will fall for it. Phishing occurs when an identity thief sets up a false website using a slightly corrupted version of a legitimate company name. For example, rather than Amazon.com their website might be Amaz0n.com with a zero instead of an 'o' in the name. Then a mass e-mail is sent out to people that looks like it is legitimately coming from Amazon.com warning that there is a problem with your account. The e-mail will likely use images from Amazon's website including their logo, and will tell you that your account is going to be frozen, or may have been compromised, or that something you ordered recently needs your attention. Anything to goad you into thinking that you'd better get to their website and take care of it quickly. Of course the e-mail will have a link in it for you to click on, log into your account and take corrective measures. If you click on the link, you will be taken to www.amaz0n.com, but you probably won't notice that address switch. You will find a page that looks very much like Amazon.com which has a user login and password area. If you log into your account on this site, your information will instantly be transported to the thief and before you know it, he will be online and making plenty of purchases to your account and having them shipped somewhere where he can pick them up.

Check Washing

Check washing is an old scam but still a very reliable one for those that know how to do it well. Usually this entails getting their hands on a written check - like to the electric company, from you, and then using a special, very simple chemical blend that they soak the check in, they erase the ink from the check, all but the signature. When they are done with this process they are left with a blank check signed by you. Time to write in any amount they think they can get away with, put their own name in as the payee and walk it over to a branch of your bank, and cash the check.

Mail Fraud Scams

Not an extremely popular way of stealing an identity anymore, but still in use and still netting thieves millions of dollars per year, mail fraud scams occur when someone tampers with either your mail, or your mailbox in order to get your mail. This can be used in combination with check washing if the thieves see you put your outgoing mail in a mailbox and then take the checks you've written to other vendors and wash them. Or perhaps, after the mailman drops off your mail in the box and leaves, they will go through your mail and see if you have any credit card offers. They will steal these from your mail and apply for those credit cards under your name using your information, having the address changed to their own home.

Electronic Hacking

Not many people have the talent to do this, but those that do, do it with great success, hacking into your personal computer, business networks or even government computers to steal names, social security numbers, credit card numbers and other information that would allow them to assume a person's identity in order to go on a criminal spending spree. Unlike other forms of identity theft that usually focus on getting one or two victims at a time, these identity thieves with one successful hack can land hundreds or thousands of credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc. and take their time going down the list, hitting each one for as much as they can before moving on to the next.

Good Old-Fashioned Thievery

Believe it or not, pickpockets still exist and walk around swiping purses and wallets, often without the victim even realizing it right away. They then can quickly use their ill-gotten information such as credit cards to make some fast purchases before the victim realizes their stuff is missing and has the cards canceled.

Dumpster Diving

More common than many people would like to believe, dumpster diving is not some kind of fraternity game, it is where a person will literally dig through your trash in order to find information that they can use in order to steal your identity or open up accounts in your name.