QandAs: Tech

What is Identity Theft?

Answer:
Identity theft is a form of fraud in

which an unauthorized person uses a victim's personal identifiers to obtain goods and services. For example, if an unscrupulous person discovered a pre-approved credit card in a neighbor's trash can and used it to make an online purchase, it would be considered identity theft.

You may assume when you wake up in the morning that you are John or Jane Smith, but to your bank you may be "account number 12345678", or "123-45-6789" or the authorized user of Visa credit card 123456789101112. Identity theft is about the use of compromised identifiers such as bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, credit card account numbers, and so on. It isn't necessarily about an active impersonation of the victim, but more of an exploitation of the victim's digital or virtual identification. A professional identity thief may have access to literally hundreds or even thousands of identities, and the chances of any individual victim successfully prosecuting the thief or obtaining restitution are distressingly low.

Identity theft can occur as a result of several different techniques. Sometimes the victim voluntarily provides the information under the belief it would be kept confidential or could not possibly be compromised for illegal purposes. Whenever a patron of a restaurant pays for his or her meal with a credit or debit card, for example, there is generally a sense of trust that the manager will not make the transaction information available to unauthorized parties. However, a professional identity thief can use a illegal electronic swiping device which would record enough personal credit information to create a duplicate card or make fraudulent purchases on the original card. Identity theft can be a simple matter of exploiting a trusted system such as a credit card reader or online ordering form to steal a customer's electronic identity.

Social engineering can also lead to identity theft. Some identity thieves will position themselves to overhear confidential conversations or observe private electronic transactions such as entering PIN numbers at an ATM or on a store's checkout keypad. The information gathered during these spy missions can later be used to override security measures if the identity thief uses the victim's account numbers illegally. Identity theft could also occur if a victim provides personal information to an unscrupulous surveyor or an online phishing scheme. A victim may be asked to confirm banking information in connection with a legtitimate online service such as PayPal or eBay. If the identity thief convinces the victim the request for personal information is legitimate and legal, he or she could literally clean out the victim's accounts within minutes.

Some identity thieves may resort to criminal acts in order to obtain the information they need. Hacking into computer systems containing account information is a common tactic. Others may obtain the birth certificate of a child who died in infancy and use it to obtain a new social security number, new driver's license and other personal identifiers. Rummaging through a victim's trash may also yield enough information to apply for credit card accounts or fill out online ordering forms. This is why it is very important to destroy any unsolicited credit card offers and any other paperwork which contains personal information, such as prescriptions, paycheck stubs, store receipts, and checkbook registers. You should also avoid using passwords or PIN numbers which can easily be associated with your basic personal information, such as a street address or pet's name or telephone number, all of which could be easily compromised by a skillful identity thief. Choose random letters and numbers whenever possible and memorize them instead.