Identity thieves are a creative bunch of criminals and use a variety of different methods, both online and offline, to steal personal information from their victims. Some of the most common are:
Skimming: A thief can steal your personal or account information from your credit card, driver’s license, or even passport using an electronic device known as a skimmer. Your card is swiped through the skimmer and the information contained in the magnetic strip on the card is then stored on the device itself or an attached computer.
Phishing: With phishing, the thief will typically send you an email from a familiar and official-looking company (such as a bank or a retailer), government agency or other group. The email simply asks you to click on a link, visit their site and verify or update some of your personal information. The site you are sent to will look identical to the real company or organization's website, making you feel more comfortable about handing over the information. Phishing doesn’t just happen online, though. Some thieves also run phishing scams over the telephone, pretending to be representatives from reputable companies or agencies asking you to verify personal information. Never give personal information to anyone over the phone unless you have initiated the call. If someone calls asking you for personal information, ask for a number to call them back and then check whether they are legitimate before doing so.
One more thing to note about phishing is that scammers are also spoofing social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook, too. Both of those sites have increased security and will give you a warning when you click on a link that will take you away from their site and it's important to pay attention to those warnings.
Spyware: Identity thieves will use spyware to gather all types of confidential information, and you will probably have no idea your information is being stolen. The thief can access everything you do online including your usernames, passwords, online shopping purchases and email or instant messages. Spyware can be bundled as part of free software, such as screen savers or games, distributed via email attachments, web links, music or video downloads. It can exploit web browser vulnerabilities with “drive-by” downloads, where the victim is unaware that he or she is downloading the software. Sometimes, the victim is fooled into downloading spyware, believing it’s a legitimate program such as a web browser update.
Old-Fashioned Stealing: Believe it or not, most identity theft occurs offline. Thieves will usually gain access to your personal information through stolen or lost items such as wallets, purses, checkbooks, credit cards, mail or tax documents. They’ll even go through your trash looking for discarded bills or other papers containing your personal information. And, according to the Better Business Bureau, 47% of reported identity theft is committed by friends, family members, co-workers or neighbors of the victim.
