Identity Theft is Nothing New
Long before we entered the digital age, identity thieves realized that stealing someone’s identity could be profitable. As we continue to take advantage of all of the technology available to us, identity thieves adapt, and discover new and disarming ways to steal identities. Identity thieves can steal personal information in a number of ways.
From relatively straight forward:
- Intercepting mail from the mailbox
- Dumpster diving
- Lost or stolen wallets
- Using a camera phone to take pictures of your credit card
To the far more sophisticated:
- Phishing Email Scams — trick people into giving out their personal information such as credit card, bank account or Social Security Numbers
- Key Logging — A diagnostic used in software development that captures the user’s keystrokes
- Pharming — Thieves redirect a consumer to an imposter Web page even when the individual types the correct address into his browser
- Malware — Software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent
- Twitterjacking — With no identity verification it’s easy to pretend to be someone else. It has been called "identity theft in 140 characters or less."
Watch for these warning signs:
- Missing bills or account statements
- Unexpected charges
- Denied credit
- Unrequested credit cards
- Calls from collection agencies
