About Identity Theft

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What is identity theft?

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.

The FTC estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. In fact, you or someone you know may have experienced some form of identity theft.

The crime takes many forms. Identity thieves may rent an apartment, obtain a credit card, or establish a telephone account in your name. You may not find out about the theft until you review your credit report or a credit card statement and notice charges you didn’t make—or until you’re contacted by a debt collector.

Identity theft is serious. While some identity theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others spend hundreds of dollars and many days repairing damage to their good name and credit record. Some consumers victimized by identity theft may lose out on job opportunities, or be denied loans for education, housing or cars because of negative information on their credit reports. In rare cases, they may even be arrested for crimes they did not commit.

How do thieves steal an identity?

Identity theft starts with the misuse of your personally identifying information such as your name and Social Security number, credit card numbers, or other financial account information. For identity thieves, this information is as good as gold.

Skilled identity thieves may use a variety of methods to get hold of your information, including:

Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.

Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.

Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.

Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.

Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.

Pretexting. They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources. For more information about pretexting, click here.

What do thieves do with a stolen identity?

Once they have your personal information, identity thieves use it in a variety of ways.

Credit card fraud:

They may open new credit card accounts in your name. When they use the cards and don't pay the bills, the delinquent accounts appear on your credit report.

They may change the billing address on your credit card so that you no longer receive bills, and then run up charges on your account. Because your bills are now sent to a different address, it may be some time before you realize there's a problem.

Phone or utilities fraud:

They may open a new phone or wireless account in your name, or run up charges on your existing account.

They may use your name to get utility services like electricity, heating, or cable TV.

Bank/finance fraud:

They may create counterfeit checks using your name or account number.

They may open a bank account in your name and write bad checks.

They may clone your ATM or debit card and make electronic withdrawals your name, draining your accounts.

They may take out a loan in your name.

Government documents fraud:

They may get a driver's license or official ID card issued in your name but with their picture.

They may use your name and Social Security number to get government benefits.

They may file a fraudulent tax return using your information.

Other fraud:

They may get a job using your Social Security number.

They may rent a house or get medical services using your name.

They may give your personal information to police during an arrest. If they don't show up for their court date, a warrant for arrest is issued in your name.

How can you find out if your identity was stolen?

The best way to find out is to monitor your accounts and bank statements each month, and check your credit report on a regular basis. If you check your credit report regularly, you may be able to limit the damage caused by identity theft. For more information, visit the Detect Identity Theft section.

Unfortunately, many consumers learn that their identity has been stolen after some damage has been done.

You may find out when bill collection agencies contact you for overdue debts you never incurred.

You may find out when you apply for a mortgage or car loan and learn that problems with your credit history are holding up the loan.

You may find out when you get something in the mail about an apartment you never rented, a house you never bought, or a job you never held.

What should you do if your identity is stolen?

Filing a police report, checking your credit reports, notifying creditors, and disputing any unauthorized transactions are some of the steps you must take immediately to restore your good name. To learn more about these steps and more, visit the DEFEND: Recover from Identity Theft section. To file a complaint, click here.

Should you file a police report if your identity is stolen?

A police report that provides specific details of the identity theft is considered an Identity Theft Report, which entitles you to certain legal rights when it is provided to the three major credit reporting agencies or to companies where the thief misused your information. An Identity Theft Report can be used to permanently block fraudulent information that results from identity theft, such as accounts or addresses, from appearing on your credit report. It will also make sure these debts do not reappear on your credit reports. Identity Theft Reports can prevent a company from continuing to collect debts that result from identity theft, or selling them to others for collection. An Identity Theft Report is also needed to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report.

You may not need an Identity Theft Report if the thief made charges on an existing account and you have been able to work with the company to resolve the dispute. Where an identity thief has opened new accounts in your name, or where fraudulent charges have been reported to the consumer reporting agencies, you should obtain an Identity Theft Report so that you can take advantage of the protections you are entitled to.

In order for a police report to entitle you to the legal rights mentioned above, it must contain specific details about the identity theft. You should file an ID Theft Complaint with the FTC and bring your printed ID Theft Complaint with you to the police station when you file your police report. The printed ID Theft Complaint can be used to support your local police report to ensure that it includes the detail required.

A police report is also needed to get copies of the thief’s application, as well as transaction information from companies that dealt with the thief. To get this information, you must submit a request in writing, accompanied by the police report, to the address specified by the company for this purpose. You can find more information and a model letter here.

How long can the effects of identity theft last?

It's difficult to predict how long the effects of identity theft may linger. That's because it depends on many factors including the type of theft, whether the thief sold or passed your information on to other thieves, whether the thief is caught, and problems related to correcting your credit report.

Victims of identity theft should monitor financial records for several months after they discover the crime. Victims should review their credit reports once every three months in the first year of the theft, and once a year thereafter. Stay alert for other signs of identity theft.

Don't delay in correcting your records and contacting all companies that opened fraudulent accounts. Make the initial contact by phone, even though you will normally need to follow up in writing. The longer the inaccurate information goes uncorrected, the longer it will take to resolve the problem.

What can you do to help fight identity theft?

A great deal.

Awareness is an effective weapon against many forms identity theft. Be aware of how information is stolen and what you can do to protect yours, monitor your personal information to uncover any problems quickly, and know what to do when you suspect your identity has been stolen.

Armed with the knowledge of how to protect yourself and take action, you can make identity thieves' jobs much more difficult. You can also help fight identity theft by educating your friends, family, and members of your community. The FTC has prepared a collection of easy-to-use materials to enable anyone regardless of existing knowledge about identity theft to inform others about this serious crime.

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What is Identity theft?

Imagine you waking up one day and realizing that all your important personal and financial information has been compromised and it is in the hands of unscrupulous elements. All the information that signifies your very existence is being misused.

What we are talking about here is your “IDENTITY”.

If you loose your identity, you stand a chance of loosing everything that you’ve built so far in your life like:

Your name

Your bank accounts

Your credit cards

Your Social Security Number

Your personal information (like your email IDs)

What’s worse is that you could lose all this without you even knowing that you lost it and by the time you realize, it is too late to make amends and you’re probably bankrupt. This is exactly what happens when you disclose your personal details at unknown sources on the Internet. You are opening a Pandora’s Box and there is no looking back.

What can someone do by using your Identity?

To answer that put your self in the criminal’s shoes for a minute. What would you do if you had all the personal and financial information of somebody? You could wreck havoc and there’s no John McClane coming to the rescue as in Die Hard Movie. So what exactly can someone do with your identity? Well for starters they can make you go bankrupt. Here are some of the other things that can happen. They can

Impersonate you

Obtain loans, funds, credit cards using your personal details

Acquire Social Security Number or Driver’s License

Acquire fake passports (which if in the hands of terrorist can be a national threat)

Perform other crimes for which you would be held responsible

What information do fraudsters need to perform Identity theft?

Unfortunately most of the information that they need for ID theft is documents that we usually are not very protective about like: Your name and address combined with

Utility bills and credit card statements

Bank account documents

Bank statements

ATM transaction slips

Your birth certificates

SocialSecurity Number

Driver’s License Number

There are two types of identity frauds that can be done to cards:

Application fraud - A criminal uses your personal details to apply for and obtain a card or any kind of a bank product (for example, a loan).

Account take-over - A criminal uses key personal information to totally takeover and start operating your account.

How can you protect your Identity?

The best approach to prevent yourself from being a victim of ID theft is to be cautious when it comes to letting out your personal and financial information. All have your antennas switched on. Following are some of the tips to help keep your identity safe:

Never disclose personal information to anyone you do not trust.

Do not provide your information until and unless you are sure about the caller. Fraudsters setup fake call centers using VOIP; this is known as “Vishing”. If in case of doubt you call the bank directly using the bank phone number listed on the bank website.

Remember that banks always ask for specific characters like last 4 digits of your card or SSN not your entire card number or SSN for verification.

Ensure that your personal documents are always secure. Your personal documents include your birth certificate, bank account details, passport, credit cards, driving license, SSN, card receipts, financial statements and even utility bills.

Periodically peruse your bank statements to check for any transactions that have occurred without your knowledge.

Dispose of financial statements, card receipts and other personal documents with utmost care. Tear or cut into pieces any such documents before trashing them.

Keep the authorities informed if you have lost any personal item. For example, report a stolen credit card.

Raise an alarm if you receive a telephone call or letter saying you have been approved or denied credit for accounts you know nothing about, or you receive a credit card statement for an account that you never opened.

While paying by credit card, never let it out of your sight. Raise an alarm if the card is being swiped more than required, or if it is being scanned.

In case of a change in address, ensure to notify the correct address to all recipients who send you statements to your address.

Check that the Internet connection you are using is secure. Look for the lock at the bottom or https (an‘s’ appended to ‘http’) in the address field of your browser. These indicate that the connection is a secure one

Make sure that you have automatic updates / firewall turned on and regularly download the security patches if you are a windows user.

All said and done, even after taking all the precautions in case there was a slight slip from your end and you’ve mistakenly disclosed your personal details then, to re-trace your steps you can approach the following methods:

If you have given out bank related information, inform bank authorities to watch out for transactions and change all the related passwords to gain control over your bank account.

If your driving license or any cards are stolen, then, contact the agencies that issued the documents and follow their procedures to cancel a document and get a replacement. Ask the agency to “flag” your file to keep anyone else from getting a license or another identification document in your name.

Keep an eye on your regular statements or bills that you receive. A missing bill or statement could mean that the fraudster is making use of your personal information.

Sharing and Caring

The power of knowledge can defeat any fraud! If you know what is happening to you or people around you, you can surely combat it. Online guards strongly emphasize that phishing and other Internet related scams can be put to bed by educating the end-user and passing the information to your near and dear ones. If you care for your friends and family members’ security, please do share this information to increase public awareness. Let's make Internet a happier place to visit.