[Fraud Series: Topic 1] Easy Identity Theft

I used to think it was very difficult to steal "good" identity information. But after a little research, I have learned it's really very easy!

CASE 1: Criminals simply drive into any community that re-cycles and pick up the bags left at curbside. This is nice, clean, paper (no smelly garbage mixed in it). The criminals instantly get the "victims" address (it's on the envelopes) , and all they need to do now is search through the papers for names, telephone numbers, bank account #'s, social security #'s...you name it, it's in there!

CASE 2: Criminals go to any domain name registrar (like www.godaddy.com) and purchase a seemingly legitimate URL, something like "www.californiarefinance.org". And if they're not a programmer, then they'll simply go visit an existing bank's web-sites and copy their pages. Using a tool like Adobe's DreamWeaver they can quickly build a "fake" web-site for their fake business. Now they're ready to apply at a search engine, pay top dollar for the best home mortgage refinance search terms, such as:"refinance", "mortgages" etc. to link to their new domain name. Finally, real victims come willingly to visit their web-site. The victim enters page after page of personally identifiable information, which is then immediately stored in a database. The victim might be told they will receive an email notification regarding the status of their application (but they either never get the email, or the email simply says, "I'm sorry, your application has been declined."). Either way, the criminal now has the victims very good identity info.

In both of the above cases, the criminal can use your information and apply directly online for credit cards, on your behalf.

Next week's [Fraud Series: Topic 2] Stolen Credit Cards.