Phishing or The Account Maintenance Scam

This is the big one, and it works over the phone or through e-mail. Someone claiming to be from a company you have an account with—your bank, online retailer, or Internet provider, for instance—contacts you to “confirm” your account information, i.e., all the information an identity thief can use. Don’t. If it’s a phone call, double-check that the caller is legit by hanging up and calling them back using a reliable number. (Get, the number yourself from the phone book or a billing statement.)

If the account maintenance request comes in an e-mail, it’s called phishing, and things get even trickier. You’ll be asked to click on a link within the e-mail, which will take you to a site that looks exactly like the company’s real site. Don’t be fooled! There you’ll find a form, and if you fill it out, an identity thief gets all your info.

So how can you tell if an e-mail like this is a scam? Well, remember that link in the e-mail? It was probably your Internet provider’s real address, but here’s the diabolical truth: a link can say one thing and take you somewhere else entirely! Even the address bar on your browser can fool you. Thieves buy domain names that are almost exactly identical to the actual site names: www.yourbank.net becomes www.yourbank.com or www.yourbankonline.net. Again, you need to verify this through a separate source. Call the company directly, or type the address you know is theirs into your browser. If you go to the real website, you’ll often find a warning about the scam. If not, forward them the fake e-mail so they can alert other customers.

How Thieves Steal Your Information

You don’t have to tattoo your Social Security number on your forehead and lend your credit card to random strangers to become a victim of identity theft. Determined crooks have come up with some pretty sneaky ways to get your digits. Here’s a thoroughly depressing look at how they do it.

SNATCHING YOUR PURSE OR WALLET
Pickpockets and purse snatchers are going about it the old-fashioned way. Not particularly inspired, but very effective.

STEALING YOUR MAIL
There’s a rich bounty of information in the form of credit card statements, new checks, and that unending stream of preapproved credit offers in your mailbox. And it’s not just snail mail. Your electronic communications are vulnerable to theft as well.

DUMPSTER DIVING
No, not the latest extreme sport, just a profitable if rather messy way to get your private info from your trash. Your old computer can also yield some great stuff to a crook with a few techno-skills.

BREAKING INTO YOUR HOUSE OR YOUR COMPUTER
Cyber-thieves are eager to steal that file you labeled “Important Private Confidential Sensitive Personal Information.” Subtlety’s not your strong point, is it?

CONNING A CREDIT BUREAU
By posing as someone legit, like a bank or an employer, thieves can obtain all your vital stats in one handy package. Don’t let them order your report before you do!

EAVESDROPPING AND SHOULDER SURFING
Some thieves try to listen in on your conversations or watch you enter your PIN at an ATM, using high-tech Bond gear like binoculars and video cameras.

SKIMMING
By running your plastic through a bogus reader designed to copy the card number, your seemingly innocent Food Mart guy or friendly waitress just might be ripping you off.

PRETEXTING, PHISHING, SCAMMING, AND SPOOFING

Four fancy ways of saying, “playing you for a fool.” By mail, telephone, or e-mail, thieves pretend to be from businesses with actual reasons for needing your SSN and mother’s maiden name. As if you didn’t already hate telemarketers enough!

INSIDE JOB
Sadly, a significant amount of identity theft is perpetrated by family members or relatives, who have easy access to your records. Employees and co-workers can also get your personal information at work.

STEALING FROM COMPANIES
A large number of businesses have you in their database systems, along with all the information a thief could want. To get the goods on you, thieves hack into databases, steal physical files, or pay employees to divulge your data.

A thief can also fill out a “change of address form” for you so the evidence of his crime won’t wind up on your doorstep. Lazier thieves may simply buy your information from someone who has used one of the above methods. That’s bad news, since it means multiple impostors may be committing fraud in your name.