Introduction Homicide Other Robbery Identity Theft Hate Crimes Elderly Child Burglary Assault

• What is Identity Theft?
• A Crook's Bag of Tricks
• How to Prevent Identity Theft
• Repairing the Damage
• Resources
  

The U.S. Department of Justice defines identity theft this way:

•  12.7 percent of respondents reported that they had been victims of identity theft at some time over the past five years. This implies that at least 27 million Americans had their identities stolen.
• Victims reported that they spent 30 hours, on average, cleaning up after an identity crime at an average cost of $500. 

•  Credit card fraud was the most common form of identity theft, accounting for 28 percent of thefts reported.
•  Phone or utilities fraud was next, accounting for 19 percent of identity thefts reported.
• Bank fraud followed, accounting for 18 percent of identity thefts reported.

• File a change of address form in your name to divert mail and gather personal and financial data
• Steal credit card payments and other outgoing mail from private, curbside mailboxes
• Lift driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, or other identifiers from checks
• Steal mail, especially envelopes containing bill payments, from unlocked, unguarded, “out boxes” at work
• Go “dumpster diving” by digging through garbage cans or communal dumpsters in search of cancelled checks, credit card and bank statements, or preapproved credit card offers
• Steal discarded applications for preapproved credit cards and fill them out with a different address
• Steal wallets and purses—and all the credit and identification cards inside them
• Take important documents such as birth certificates, passports, copies of tax returns and the like during a burglary of your house
• Steal Social Security cards
• Steal the Social Security numbers and identities of children who are especially vulnerable because they don’t have credit histories and it may be many years before the theft is discovered
• Lift names and Social Security numbers from such documents as a driver’s license, employee badge, student ID card, check, or medical chart
• Use personal information from a Who’s Who book or a newspaper article
• Use the personal information of a relative or someone he or she knows well, perhaps by being a frequent visitor to their home
• Pretend to be government officials or legitimate business people who need to gather personal information from credit reporting agencies or other sources
• Hack into a computer that contains your personal records and steal the data
• Buy records stolen by a fellow employee who’s been bribed
•  “Shoulder surf” by watching from a nearby location as he or she punches in a telephone calling card number or listens in on a conversation in which the victim provides a credit card number over the telephone in a public place
• Use the camera in a cell phone to photograph someone’s credit card or ATM card while he or she is using an ATM machine or buying something in a store
• “Phish” by sending a legitimate-looking email that directs you to a phony website that looks legitimate and asks for your personal and financial data
• “Pharm,” a tactic by which criminals “hijack” whole domains to their own sites and gather the personal and financial data of users who believe they’re communicating through their customary service provider
• Send fraudulent spam emails that promise huge prizes or bargains in return for personal and financial information
• “Skim,” in which a dishonest merchant secretly copies the magnetic strip on the   back of your credit or debit card in order to make a counterfeit card that can then be sold
• Send a fake electronic IRS form to gather personal information and financial data (Note: The IRS never requests information by email.)

• They make long-term financial commitments, like taking out mortgages or buying cars, using their victim’s credit history.
• They establish, use, and abandon dozens of charge accounts—without paying.
• They may run up huge amounts of debt, then file for bankruptcy in their victim’s name, ruining their victim’s credit history and reputation.

• They may threaten national security or commit acts of terrorism. The September 11 hijackers used fake IDs to board their planes.
• They use stolen personal information to forge military identification cards, as recently happened at an army base near Washington, DC. This was a potential threat to national security.
• They pile up traffic tickets in your name with no intent to pay them.
• They commit felonies using your identity. Victims of identity theft have been arrested, even jailed, for crimes they didn’t commit.
• They may obtain a passport in your name to bring someone into the country for any one of a number of illegal reasons—human trafficking, for example.

• Don’t put outgoing mail, especially bill payments, in personal curbside mailboxes. Use United States Postal Service mailboxes instead, or, better yet, drop off your mail inside a post office.
• Use a locked mailbox with a slot at home, if at all possible.
• Don’t put outgoing mail in an unguarded “out box” at work.
• Don’t write your account number on the outside of envelopes containing bill payments.
• When you’re out of town, have the post office hold your mail for you or have someone you trust pick it up every day.

• Make sure nobody is standing right behind you when you’re using an ATM machine. He or she may be trying to photograph your card number and password with a camera cell phone. Always shield your hand and the screen, even if no one’s right behind you.
• Pay your bills online using a secure site if that service is available.
• Don’t give out your credit card number on the Internet unless it is encrypted on a secure site.

• Examine your credit reports from the major national credit reporting firms at least once a year to make sure no one has established credit in your name or is ruining your credit after stealing your identity. The recently enacted Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act requires that each of the three major credit reporting agencies provide consumers with a free credit report once a year.
• If you have to give out personal or financial information from a public phone or by cell phone, make sure no one is listening or wait until you’re in a more secure location.
• Shred all financial statements, billing statements, and preapproved credit card offers and the like before throwing them in the trash. Cross-cut shredding is best. No shredder? Use scissors to cut documents.
• Minimize the number of identification and credit cards you carry with you. Take only what’s absolutely necessary.
• Cancel all credit cards that you have not used in the last six months. Open credit is a prime target if an identity thief spies it in your credit report.
• Write to the Direct Marketing Association to have your name taken off direct mail lists. This will stop the dangerous flow of preapproved credit card offers to your address. This is where to write:

• Call the credit reporting industry at 888-567-8688 as an extra measure to stop credit card and insurance solicitations from coming to your home.

• Use traveler’s checks instead of personal bank checks.
• Examine all of your bank and credit card statements each month for mistakes or unfamiliar charges that might be the sign of an identity thief at work.
• Make sure you know when your bills and bank statements normally arrive. If one is late, call to find out why. It may have fallen into the wrong hands.
• Use direct deposit, whenever possible, instead of a paper paycheck.
• Don’t have new checks mailed to you at home; pick them up at the bank.
• Be alert if you get a call from someone purporting to be from your bank who asks for personal data to update your “records.” This is almost always a scam. If you’re in doubt, hang up and call the bank yourself.

• Commit all passwords to memory. Never write them down or carry them with you.
• Don’t give out your financial or personal information over the phone or Internet,
• unless you have initiated the contact or know for certain with whom you are dealing.
• Don’t exchange personal information for “prizes.” Ask to have the offer put in writing and mailed to you so you can consider it more carefully.
• Give out your Social Security number only when absolutely necessary. Treat it as confidential information.
• Identity thieves have been known to take Social Security numbers from medical charts in hospitals, where the numbers are frequently used as patient identifiers. If you’re hospitalized, tell your doctor or nurse to be careful with your chart!
• Destroy the hard drive of your computer if you are selling it, giving it to charity, or otherwise disposing of it. Don’t just erase the hard drive; physically remove it.
• Keep your personal information confidential and learn as much as you can about the various kinds of scams being perpetrated to steal your identity. The newspapers are full of tips.

•  Don’t carry your Social Security card with you. Keep it in a safe place at home.
• Don’t carry automotive insurance policies in your car. Keep them locked up at home.
• Don’t keep your car registration in your car. If possible, carry it in your wallet.
• Keep your wallet in your front pocket so a pickpocket can’t take it. Hold your purse close against your body through its straps.
• Burglar-proof your home, then burglar-proof what’s inside your home, especially your financial records and important documents (put them inside a locked filing cabinet or safe).

• Call the Social Security Administration’s Fraud Hotline at 800-269-0271 if your Social Security number has been stolen.
• Call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service if you suspect that a thief has used your mailing address to commit a crime. Call 888-877-7644 for the number of your local office.
• Call the Internal Revenue Service at 800-829-0433 if you believe your identification has been used in violation of tax laws.
• The Secret Service is responsible for investigating financial fraud, but it doesn’t investigate individual crimes unless a large amount of money is involved or a ring of thieves is operating. For more information, go to www.treas.gov/usss .
• Report your case to the Federal Trade Commission, which maintains a database that law enforcement agencies use to hunt down identity thieves. To report your theft or to get more information on what to do, call the FTC’s toll-free hotline at 877-IDTHEFT.

• Act as soon as you discover the theft. Time is of the essence to prevent further fraud or damage to your credit, and acting quickly may be necessary to protect your rights.
• Keep a record of all conversations with name, agency, phone number, date, and time.
• Keep copies of all emails.
• Never mail originals. Always send out copies, notarized if necessary.
• Use the Federal Trade Commission’s ID Theft Affidavit and get it notarized.
• Always use certified mail, return receipt requested, so that you have a record of who received your mail and when.
• Above all, be persistent. It can take time and effort to clean up the mess left behind by the criminal who stole your identity, but only you can do the job.