Identity Theft Today
The crime of identity theft occurs when someone, without your knowledge, fraudulently acquires a piece of your personal information and uses it to obtain goods, services or credit. This is a fairly new and rapidly evolving area of criminal activity. Identity thieves are continuously finding new ways to work. Consumers should be aware of the following tactics that are currently being used to gather identifying information for fraudulent use:
Types of Identity Theft
Following are the types of identity theft presently known to be commonly employed. They include 37 varieties grouped in 3 main categories:
Financial Identity Theft
Most commonly occurs when the Social Security Number (SSN) and name is used to establish new lines of credit.
| ID Theft Type | Information Used | How Used |
| ATM | PIN number, ATM card, account number | Open accounts, access funds, gather further information |
| Bankruptcy | Fraudulently filed in your name | Relief from bad debt filed fraudulently |
| Business | EIN, articles of organization, stock, benefits, etc. | Open accounts, change articles, obtain lines of credit |
| Checking | Account numbers, other personal information | Obtain other accounts, credit cards, lines of credit, residence, employment |
| Collection agency | Checking accounts, SSN, DOB, credit cards, lines of credit, DL# | Scam to gather more information to obtain identity |
| Debit card | Same as checking and ATM | Same as checking and ATM |
| Existing credit | Credit cards, lines of credit, loans | Extend financing, rates, overdraw accounts, open new accounts |
| New credit | Credit cards, lines of credit, loans | Open accounts with fragmented information to prevent exposure to credit reports |
| Retirement account | Name, SSN account numbers, address, passwords | Cash out accounts, transfer funds |
| Savings | Account numbers, other personal information | Obtain other accounts, credit cards, lines of credit, residence, employment |
| Securities | Name, SSN account numbers, address, passwords | Cash out accounts, transfer funds |
Criminal Identity Theft
Typically this occurs when a person “borrows” the information to get a Driver’s License (DL) or when caught in a criminal act.
| ID Theft Type | Information Used | How Used |
| Apartment rental | SSN & name variations | For residence |
| Criminal | Identity already stolen | Crime is committed under stolen identity |
| Drivers license | DL#, name, SSN | Used with other information to obtain or provide “proof” of identity |
| Internet (existing) | IP, service, files | Viruses are used to obtain keystrokes, mask IP, change service information |
| Internet (new) | IP, service, files | Obtain service, mask hosting, redirect web service |
| Local phone service (existing) | Change account information, obtain further information, mask caller ID | Masking allows thief to use victims phone# from any phone. Grants fraudulent access to accounts authorizing phone numbers |
| Local phone service (new) | Change account information, obtain further information, mask caller ID | Masking allows thief to use victims phone# from any phone. Grants fraudulent access to accounts authorizing phone numbers |
| Long distance phone service (existing) | Change account information, obtain further information, mask caller ID | Masking allows thief to use victims phone# from any phone. Grants fraudulent access to accounts authorizing phone numbers |
| Long distance phone service (new) | Change account information, obtain further information, mask caller ID | Masking allows thief to use victims phone# from any phone. Grants fraudulent access to accounts authorizing phone numbers |
| Stolen license plate | VIN, DL#, name, DOB | Order replacement plates, transfer plates generally to sell a stolen car |
| Workplace (existing) | Name, SSN, benefits | Information is stolen and used or sold by co-worker |
Identity Cloning
Cloning is when the identity is fraudulently used for financial, criminal and governmental purposes.
| ID Theft Type | Information Used | How Used |
| Data breach victim | Account numbers, medical records, benefit information, SSN, DL#, passport, etc. | If a hostile attack, information will generally be sold on the black market |
| Education/Scholarship | Scholarship, student loan records, SSN, Name, DOB, Parents Information | Accept or apply for fraudulent funds, loans generally contain info on parents and student |
| Federal IRS | SSN & name variations | Obtain employment without reporting W2, filing fraudulent refund, obtain ‘refund loan’ |
| Identification card | Employment ID, name, SSN, DOB, account numbers | Used with other information to obtain or to provide proof of identity |
| Immigrations | Green cards, passports, naturalization, consulate | Obtain employment, provide “proof” of ID for accounts |
| Medicaid/Medicare | SSN & name variations, account numbers | Obtain fraudulent medical coverage |
| Medical | SSN & name variations, account numbers | Obtain fraudulent medical coverage |
| Passport | Name, SSN, DOB variations | Obtain entry into country, obtain further information, credit, employment or documentation |
| Postal | Address, name | Change address |
| SSN | SSN, name, DOB | Obtain fraudulent SSN, obtain SS funds, open accounts, obtain fraudulent identification |
| State IRS | SSN & name variations | Information is stolen and used or sold by co-worker |
| Utilities (existing) | SSN, name, DOB, account numbers | Obtain fraudulent service, change service |
| Utilities (new) | SSN, name, DOB, account numbers | Obtain fraudulent service, change service |
| Workplace (new) | Name, SSN, benefits | Information is used to obtain employment |
ID theft by the numbers - According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2007, identity theft complaints are broken down as follows:
About 23% reported that a credit card was opened in their name
18% reported that the thief established new telephone, cellular, or another service in their name
13% reported that a bank account was opened in their name, or unauthorized withdrawals had been made from their account
5% reported that the thief obtained a loan in their name
11% reported that the thief obtained a fraudulent document such as a driver’s license
ConcernedAboutFamily on October 22nd, 2008 at 1:49 am
I had no idea this crime was so diverse! Can you protect against all of them?
Ben Rabicoff on October 23rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
While we can’t prevent all identity theft, we work to put the best safeguards in place that we can. At this time, there are no defenses that we can put into place to protect consumers from criminal identity theft or medical identity theft but we are there with our $1 million total service guarantee should anything happen.