11 Ways Your Identity Can Be Stolen

Here are some typical ways in which thieves gather information about you:

1. Stealing wallets or mail

2. Filling out a change of address form using your name and collecting your mail.

3. Snatching pre-approved credit offers from the trash, recycling bin, or mailbox.

4. Ordering unauthorized credit reports on you by posing as a potential employer, landlord, or even you.

5. Illegal computer tapping by a dishonest employee at a business where you have provided information or been granted credit.

6. Looking over your shoulder at phones and ATMs to gather PIN numbers, sometimes with binoculars or listening devices.

7. Breaking into computer systems and searching for people with good credit.

8. Using phony telemarketing schemes to con you into giving them your personal data.

9. Using personal information you shared on the Internet.

10. A former friend, lover, roommate, or coworker with a grudge gathering sensitive information and using it in an attempt to extract revenge (a more common occurrence than most people realize).

11. Perhaps the most frightening - and most thorough - way to steal your identity is by purchasing your Social Security number, mother’s maiden name, home and employment address, previous addresses, credit history, and more for just a few dollars from one of the identity search companies spawning on the Internet.