10 Sneaky Identity Theft Tactics

Identity theft is the term used to refer to fraudulant activities involving stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be someone else.

Unfortunately the person whose identity is used can suffer various consequences when they are held responsible for the perpetrator’s actions. Not surprisingly many countries have legislated various, specific laws that make it a crime to use another person’s identity for personal gain.

It is not inherently possible to steal an identity, only to use it. However, this fact has not prevented those individuals/organizations so inclined from perpetrating these criminal offences. Deceit is the underlying philisophy when it comes to issues pertaining to identity theft.

10 Sneaky Identity Theft Tactics to be Wary of

Irrespective of how security conscious you are when it comes to accessing your personal information much control is totally out of your hands. You are after all not the only one with it (your PII) and therein lies the problem.

1. Legitimate Avenues Open to Exploitation

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   Skilled identity thieves have numerous techniques to utilize in gaining access to your private information. Larger organizations including government bodies, instrumentalities and local and statutory authorities along with non-government institutions are all targets for would be personal information thieves. Businesses are yet another avenue of exploitation potential for identity theft.

   They get information from institutions or businesses by stealing records, bribing employees with access to these records and even blackmailing or extorting employees or the owners of organizations holding your personal information to divulge it.

2. Cybercrime

   Then of course, there are the electronic highways to exploit as means of obtaining personally identifiable information such as hacking computers and computerized records, the tapping of communications channels, “packet sniffing” and code breaking.

3. Trash

   Another method known as “dumpster diving” which involves going through the trash of the private person and/or commercial enterprises. Once you put the trash out it is in the public domain and therefore legally accessible to anybody wishing to rummage through it.

   Identity thieves have even taken to patrolling refuse sites for this specific purpose. A little smelly it may be, but very profitable none-the-less. There are a considerable number of variations on this theme so the best advice is never throw away anything that has even the smallest snippet of personally identifiable information. Make sure that you destroy it irrecoverably.

4. Personal Theft

   Stealing your wallet or purse is so common that we all fail to recognize that more often than not the true motive is theft but not of your cash. That is just an added bonus. Your identity will reap the thief far greater rewards.

   Stealing your mail is yet another very simple to execute strategy for identity thieves. Bills are a very useful source of identification. People will assume that if you have half a dozen bills that include the same name and address they must be yours. I have even been mistaken for my mother on occasions when going to the post office to pay some of her bills.

   A more recent and very cunning caper has involved the stealing of mail and obtaining the bills. They then go and pay some of them, usually small ones. Now, armed with a handful of bills and newly paid receipts as evidence many crooks are able to assume your identity in another part of the city, state or country. “They have only just moved and everything is still in the packing boxes” is the normal line.

5. Impersonation and Social Engineering

   Another set of closely aligned threats and exploits is through techniques that now go under the moniker of “Social Engineering” which is a topic I will discuss more in another article.

   For now, we will label this category as including all forms of conning the information from unwitting or over trusting employees. Impersonation being one of the most wide spread forms of this blight.

   Common impersonation tactics will often involve identity thieves posing as current or future landlords, real estate personal, employers, creditors, attorneys and even as representatives of charitable institutions in order to obtain your personal data from legitimate sources.

   There are many others but I think the few I have listed here will serve to demonstrate my point that these people (identity thieves) are very resourceful in deed.

6. Skimming

   Electronic methods such as “skimming” are becoming very commonplace. One form of skimming involves a device placed on a public automatic teller machine (ATM). The device simply records the data read by the ATM when you insert your bank or credit card.

   Another form of “skimming” involves double swiping. Here you use your plastic to pay a merchant or a bill or utility and your card gets “swiped” once through the thief’s reader machine and once through the legitimate payment machine.

   Do not let your card out of your sight is one of the best ways of preventing this type of activity. They will not do it when you are looking.

7. Sideline Attacks

   This strategy involves many different implementations but the basic idea is that one your plastic cards become invalid for your use. For example, your card is susceptible to deliberate damage when a card reader reads it.

   A modified card reader reads your information to enable your current transaction to take place. Immediately this operation is complete, your card is then exposed to a sudden fluctuating magnetic field strong enough to corrupt the data stored on the card’s magnetic strip.

   The perpetrator(s) know enough of your basic details and have the knowledge that your card most certainly will need replacing. They may have accomplices to follow you to locate your residence. They will then go to the post office and apply for a temporary mail redirection using the reason that you are moving if asked.

   They also know that in most instances after you discover and report your now defunct card to the bank the bank will post your replacement card and the new PIN in separate mailings, which they have already diverted for up to twenty days.

8. Phishing and Pharming

   Phishing attacks involve people sending out what at first sight appears to be “official” communications from banks, credit unions or credit card companies asking you to confirm your personal information for their records. This includes your Personal Identification Number (PIN) and other critical identifiers.

   Do not oblige, as legitimate banks etc will never ask you for this information by mail. If in doubt, contact the institution involved to verify that they sent the correspondence in the first place.

   Fraudulent duplicate websites posing as legitimate website are another twist on the phishing theme that has become more prevalent of late.

9. Extortion and Protection Racketeering

   This one is a new variation of an age-old problem. Small business is the target. The proprietor “pays” protection not in cash but in the electronic information that they are coerced into collecting on behalf of the criminal enterprise.

   As much of the information gathered is used to created forged plastic cards that are used only for a short time in a foreign country the shop owner is more pliable to comply with this type of protection demand as it does not directly affect their pocket or those of anybody they know.

   It is also very unlikely that they will be backtracked and subsequently identified as being the source of the personally identifiable information security breach. Financial institutions have reported that this type of fraud currently costs them in excess of US$500 million annually.

   This most definitely constitutes big business as a criminal enterprise and due to the overseas connections required is not the sort of thing your in which the average local neighborhood criminal will be actively perpetrating. They no doubt have their own “small” variations of the theme.

10. Trading

    The principle here is very simple. Individuals and organizations sharing common interests will collectively trade information among themselves. That which they themselves cannot use directly may be of value to an associate. In turn, the associate may have information that will be useful in return.

Conclusion

The main point that we can take out of the above scenarios is that the enterprising criminal will make the most of human frailty and failings. Those in positions with access to personally identifiable information need to be more careful than most since it is not just their personal information that is at risk. Trust is a double-edged blade.

The problem you face is that your personal information is located in so many places by so many different organizations that it is virtually impossible for you to prevent access to it in some manner or form by those with criminal intent, the tools and determination to persevere when first thwarted.