HOW CAN MY IDENTITY BE STOLEN?
If you ever are victimized by identity theft, chances are reasonably good that you will never know how your information was stolen. Victims have no idea when or how the theft occurred in almost half of the cases.
Still, we can learn from the remaining half and recognize at least some of the times we may be vulnerable. A little more than a fifth of ID theft victims are able to trace the problem back to a loss or theft of something like a wallet, credit card, or checkbook. Another 4 percent noticed something missing from the mailbox.
Experts and counselors who work with victims note that identity thieves steal what they need by grabbing bills and credit card offers from unlocked mailboxes, sifting through papers that have been thrown away (also called dumpster diving), or looking you're your shoulder at ATMs or anytime you have to swipe a card and punch in a password (also called shoulder surfing). They may also con you into giving personal information to them directly. By posing as a customer-support person needing your account information to take care of a quick problem, or a government official investigating a situation, identity thieves can trick you into helping them steal from you.
The rest of the time, the weak link is probably one of the many companies you buy things from and the agencies that follow those purchases.
WHAT MAKES ME A GOOD TARGET FOR IDENTITY THEFT?
Your behavior helps determine your risk, but, as with most crimes, having a relationship with someone who is trouble, or living in a place where a lot of criminals also live, definitely makes you a more likely target.
According to an FTC survey, a stunning one tenth of all identity theft is committed by a family member. Once you add in dubious friends, neighbors and coworkers, simply being involved with troubled people accounts for roughly a fifth of the ID theft cases.
The six states with the highest instances of theft per hundred thousand citizens made up approximately half of the cases reported to the FDIC consumer hotline between 1999 and 2003. These states-California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Florida, and New York-are more dangerous to live in than the other forty-four. Along those same lines, the cities with the highest number of complaints were New York City, Orange County San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Oakland, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Washington D.C., San Diego, Dallas, and Atlanta. In other words, identity thieves tend to tirade in big cities. You're not totally safe if you live elsewhere. Cyberspace knows few geographical boundaries. But given past trends, you are more at risk if you live in San Francisco than in Des Moines.
WHEN SHOULD I SUSPECT IDENTITY THEFT?
Unfortunately, the answer is ''Always.'' You can't take a breath in today's world without being tracked somewhere. That means that you are always exposed and always a candidate to become one of the unlucky ones.
Generally, your first indication that you have become a victim is when you notice something awry on a bill or account statement. Fifty-two percent of problems are caught this way. In 24 percent of cases, a call from your credit company or a bill collector gives you the tip. This call may simply ask you about suspicious activity. In other cases, vendor companies duped by your thief-or their bill collection agencies-come to you for payment. Much less frequently, a routine traffic stop takes on an ominous tone if you find out then that someone has been committing crimes in your name.
Other indications of identity theft are the sudden absence of correspondence, like bills, that may indicate that someone has filed a fake address forwarding request, or questionable information showing up on your credit report, such as addresses you've never lived at or accounts you have never heard of.
