How identity thieves work

In order to protect yourself against identity theft, it's important to understand the many methods fraudsters employ. Low-tech and high-tech, in your neighborhood or on the other side of the globe, identity thieves operate in a wide variety of ways.

These include – but are certainly not limited to – the following:

Rifling through your trash. You wouldn't belive how much information people simply throw out with their garbage – credit card bills, receipts, bank statements... All of these contain information a criminal can use to help access your accounts or open another in your name.

Ditto your mailbox. If your mailbox isn't locked, anyone can reach in and help themselves. Letters from the government may include information such as your date of birth, SSN or SIN and more.

Change of address. A criminal may fill out a change-of-address form and use it to divert your mail to a different location. It may be a while before you notice certain bills or statements don't show up.

Receipts. Credit card and debit receipts hold a wealth of information a criminal can use.

“Skimming.” Skimmers are devices that can copy the information from your credit or debit cards. They can be attached to ATMs or point-of-purchase machines (such as on a gas pump or at the movie theatre); they can also be handheld and used by sales staff (for example) when you hand over your card to pay for dinner or retail items.

Pickpocketing. Good old-fashioned purse or wallet stealing is still a popular way for thieves to snitch credit cards and other identification.

Peeking. Who is watching as you enter your PIN at the bank machine or checkout?

Hacking. There's a lot of information on your computer, from finances to personal details to passwords and banking history. Today's hackers are an inventive bunch – they may break into your computer through unsecured network connections, or they may develop viruses, spyware, malware and other electronic gremlins to get in. Some of these simply corrupt your hard drive; others get in, record what you do (such as the passwords you type), and transmit the information to a remote computer. Keep your computer software updated!

Inside jobs. All it takes is for one employee (or acquaintance) of a financial, government or health organization to share some files. Institutional and corporate data breaches happen every day. Sometimes they are criminally motivated; sometimes they happen through negligence. Whatever the cause, the end result could be your personal information getting out and into the wrong hands. Far too often, the public is not notified quickly in these cases.

Unsafe Internet sites. Pop-ups should generally be avoided; never follow links from suspect advertising. If you shop online, make sure you do so from a secure site. When ordering, check that the address bar reads “https” instead of “http” – this indicates a security certificate. Look for a locked padlock icon at the bottom of your browser, which also indicates a secure site.

“Spoofing” or “phishing.” This is when an identity thief sends out an email that looks like it came from a legitimate website, such as a bank, retailer or charity. Too many people fall for these scams! Remember that a reputable organization will never ask you for your password or account number over the phone. If you would like to donate to a charity, make sure you make the call.

Diligent identity thieves don't necessarily gather all your information from one place or at one time. But by piecing together, for example, your address from a piece of mail, your birthday from your driver's licence and an account number from an old receipt, a criminal may soon have enough to wreak havoc on your life and finances.

It is very important to stay on high alert at all times. Keep an eye out for unusual action in your credit report or credit files. Take advantage of SpotMyID's Internet monitoring services to watch the vast world wide web for the abuse of your personal data. Sign up today and enjoy and added layer of proactive protection against today's technically savvy criminals.

Register for SpotMyID today and enjoy FREE monitoring of 2 pieces of identification or cards or get up to 10 items monitored for just pennies per day!

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