Identity theft is on the rise in the United States, but we can learn from our mistakes to help protect ourselves and our personal data in the future. There are many types of tricks cybercriminals, or traditional thieves use to gain more knowledge about you, which we’ll discuss here. For each scheme, we’ll provide a recommendation for how to thwart these criminals.
Non-Technological Identity Theft
These identity theft examples are specific to offline sources.
Mail Theft
A thief may come up to your porch and steal your mail directly from your mailbox or porch. Identity criminals will choose mail that’s more likely to have your personal information on it.
Solution: Use a locked mailbox, a mail slot directly in your home, or switch to online billing.
Dumpster Diving
Similar to mail theft, a dumpster diver will steal your mail bit after you throw it out. Your credit card bills, bank statements, tax documents, or utilities are once again prime targets of thieves.
Solution: Shred all of your documents, regardless if they have private information on them.
Shoulder Surfing or Theft
We’re combining two identity theft cases here because one may lead to another. Shoulder surfing is when a person looks over your shoulder to steal personal data, while a thief will steal your bag, purse, or wallet directly off your person. Both are a massive breach of privacy.
Solution: Don’t use banking apps in public, password lock your phone, use cash for purchases, keep your bag closed and close to you, button up your back pockets, don’t carry your SSN.
Phone Scams
Con artists will phone you and state they are a person that deserves your trust, like a bank or service provider. Usually, they know enough about the victim to establish some trust.
Solution: Never give your private information over the phone; ask them for a call-back number.
Technological Identity Theft
These identity theft examples are specific to online sources.
Credit Card Number Theft
A person could steal your credit card directly from a website or from a personal debit card device that stores numbers. A thief could steal your signature, or an onlooker could see you type in your credit card number on a website. Illegal screen recorders may also be used.
Solution: Sign “CID” (SEE ID) on the back of your card instead of putting your signature, only buy from trusted sites, hide your monitors from sight, use PayPal for extra encryption.
Phishing Schemes
A phishing scheme (pronounced “fishing”) is when a hacker tricks a user into giving them personal information. A phisher will typically send an email and ask you to download an attachment or click on a link for more information. When you do this, you unintentionally install a virus directly to your computer that could be ransomware, malware, or a trojan.
Phishers may also use search engines, websites, text messages, or spam to target victims.
Solution: Never visit a website you don’t trust, don’t answer unauthorized texts, don’t click advertisements, don’t click mysterious links, don’t download anything you don’t trust.
Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
In a man-in-the-middle attack, the criminal will intercept information that’s being transferred from one source to another. This commonly occurs with legitimate links, but it can happen anywhere.
Solution: Check your credit reports, become more diligent and selective in what you search.
Vishing or Chat Theft
Vishing is similar to a phone scam, except the hacker will use an automated voice messaging service to steal information from you. They’ll urge you to call a number because you won a prize or owe money which you can only receive if you provide your credit card info. The chat function on websites can also be used in a similar way, or they may be hacked.
Solution: Register on the “National Do Not Call Registry,” file a complaint with the State’s Attorney Office, search the phone number online, don’t put personal info into chatbots.
