True Confessions of an Identity Thief

By: Brian Stephenson

Ever wonder what law enforcement officials do to protect their identity? Wonder no more because you’ll discover exactly what the criminals tell police about their identity theft scams. According to the U.S. Postal Service, there were almost 12 million incidents of identity theft in the United States in 2006 at a cost of 6.3 billion to consumers. This alarming statistic has increased the alert level of many consumers; however most are still unaware of the specific tactics these identity thieves use. After an extensive interview, one notorious identity thief, revealed 4 misconceptions she used to separate you from your money.

Misconception # 1 All Identity Thieves Are Men

This is a common misconception that our identity thief says makes her job so much easier. The problem is that most of the major media outlets portray identity thieves as men. The reality is that many of these criminals are well dressed attractive women. To avoid falling into a trap, watch your personal information with both men and women. Studies have shown that both men and women let their guards down around women more so than they do around men. Everyone is a potential identity thief. This does not mean you should be paranoid rather you should simply be very careful.

Misconception # 2 Trusting Your Friendly Store Clerk or Waiter

This one is hard to combat because in most cases you are required to hand over personal information and or documents to store clerks or waiters at restaurants. What you may not know is that some of those people who are waiting on you may in fact have two jobs. By day they work in the local department store but at night they have a side job. Their side job is simply to provide a few customers credit card numbers to their friends. This works so well because they have access to your credit card or account number. The only way to really combat this is to review your account statements. It is also a good idea to keep a journal of expenditures greater than a certain dollar amount.

An example would be $50 this way when your statement comes in the mail, you will quickly notice any anomalies. Think about this. How long does a person have to work at a store or restaurant before they’d have access to hundreds of customers’ personal data? Hint: Not long at all. According to our identity thief, most people like her take these jobs for a few months and after they have your data, they “take an early retirement”.

Misconception # 3 Tossing Out That Junk Mail Unopened

Whether you have good credit, great credit or terrible credit, it really does not matter. You will receive in a given month between 12 and 50 plus new offers each month to open new banking, credit accounts. The problem with this is that most of us are lazy. We fall in one of two categories. The first is a person who does not own a personal shredding machine and simply tosses the multiple credit offers in the trash or simply tears them in half and then tosses them. The second is the person who does own a personal shredder but has become too lazy to shred each and every piece of documentation sent to them.

Listen, all a thief has to do is get a hold of one piece of information from your trash can and you quickly become a victim. Don’t believe me? Let me ask you this, what are doing at 3a.m.? Really, well guess what our trustworthy identity thief is doing? She is in your trash can randomly pulling a bag out of your can for shifting and sorting later. Tip: After you shred your documents, add a little water to the bag before you seal it and then toss it. Not only will the pages be sliced and diced but will also be a wet and soggy mess, completely unusable by anyone.

Misconception # 4 Sending or Receiving Mail from at Your Home

By now you are beginning to see the point. Identity thieves commit their crimes in several ways. They steal credit card payments and other outgoing mail from private or curbside mailboxes. In fact, according to our expert, some will go a step further and file a change of address form in the victim’s name to divert mail and gather personal and financial data. Here is a simple tip. First, drop all of your outgoing mail in a local United States Postal Service mailbox. Second, consider opening a P.O. Box. I know this seems inconvenient but to truly protect yourself, these are some of the preventative measures you must take to win the fight against identity theft.

The real problem is that there are so many opportunities to become a victim; you really need 24 hour protection. Stop trying to make it without help!

Listen, very few people can successfully protect themselves and their families without help. The major problem is that you have been trying to do it alone and it is just NOT effective. How much difference would it make in your life if you had a proven guide who has been in the trenches? There are many companies like Lifelock.com that provide identity theft solutions for people like you and me.

When selecting a service to monitor and proactively protect your credit, make sure they have been recommended by over and over by top law enforcement personnel and their service has been proven to work in real world situations.