How Do Criminals Steal Their Information?

To an identity theft criminal, your personal information can provide instant access to your credit record, financial accounts, or other assets.  There are many ways that criminals can get your information. 

“Telephone Pretexting “.  Getting your information can be as simple as someone calling you on the phone and representing themselves as someone you normally do business with, like a local store, your doctor’s office, or your bank.  You think nothing of it and somehow, you have given them your credit card number or other information. 

Or someone allegedly from the IRS calls and says they are processing your refund and need some additional information.  Thinking only of how you are going to spend your refund, you give them the information.

“Skimming” involves using hand held computers to read and store the information encoded on the magnetic strip of an ATM or credit card when it is used legitimately.  Once stored, the information can be entered onto any other card with a magnetic strip.  This can also be done manually by anyone who has access to your credit card by just coping or memorizing your number when you hand your credit card to a business.

“Phishing” is the act of sending false emails proclaiming that they are from your bank or Ebay or PayPal, and asking you to enter your personal information to clear an alleged “problem”.  They can be as elaborate as setting up fake web sites that look just like the real ones.  

“Shoulder surfing” involves people watching you from a nearby location as you enter a credit card number or pin number. 

“Dumpster diving” is well known for people going through your curbside garbage or at your place of business to obtain copies of statements, checks, credit card offers, making it easier for thieves to get control over your accounts. With the amount of junk mail you get, you think nothing of just tossing it into the trash, including all those annoying credit card applications and other mail you are through reading.

“Unlocked mail boxes” allow thieves to intercept and redirect your mail to another location so bills or bank statements showing unauthorized withdrawals will never be seen by you until after the damage is done. 

“Keyloggers” are programs placed in your computer after someone has hacked into it which then logs your keystrokes to get your pin numbers or password which are then used to steal your identity. 

“Trojans” are programs that ride along on other applications or emails and come into your computer without your knowledge.  Once your computer is infected, a hacker can use the trojan program to open a “door” into your computer so they can access your personal files.  (Remember the Trojan Horse story?)

“Physical Theft and Stealing” People still carry around their Social Security number in their wallet, either the card itself or on identification cards (medical insurance, military cards, etc.),  or they print their driver’s license number on their checks.  Carrying more than one or two credit cards are all easy ways by criminals to obtain your information if your wallet or purse is stolen.

Not only can your purse or wallet be stolen, but laptops or other information devices that are full of personal information can be stolen. Information can be taken from your employer’s files,  hospital records, school files or any place information about you is being stored.

“Address Changing” to redirect your mail.  Or, a thief will open a new account in your name and change the address so you are not aware it exists. 

“Hacking“. With today’s technology, criminals can obtain your personal information without leaving the comfort of their own home.  They can purchase your information through online databases, or can get it illegally by hacking into either your computer or into any database that has your information already stored.

“Spyware“.  In exchange for free software or services, often times spyware, sometimes known as “cookies”, will be secretly placed into your computer.  It may be as innocent as identifying your online surfing and spending habits, sending information to marketers every time you visit a website.  Or, if it is a malicious spyware, it can gather personal information or even change your internet settings, causing a loss of your identity or crashing your computer.

Basically, anywhere you have provided information, from the earliest school, to your most recent medical visit, can be a target.

These are only some of the ways that thieves can access your personal information which once in hand, they can use to run up debts in the tens of thousands of dollars under your name, or impersonate you all to your detriment.