Your Social Security Number Could Be Stolen, Easily

Identity theft is one the fastest growing crimes today – the Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen every year.

Identity theft can take many forms – the thief could use a victim’s name, Social Security number or credit card number to do anything from rent an apartment or obtain a new credit card.

The Impact of Identity Theft

In 2005 alone, approximately 8.3 million U.S. adults discovered that they were victims of some type of identity, or ID, theft, according to an FTC survey.

The FTC found that ID thefts could be placed into one of three categories:

• Existing Credit Cards Only: the use of the victim’s credit card account.

• Existing Non-Credit Card Accounts: the use of a victim’s non-credit card account, such as a checking or savings account.

• New Accounts and Other Frauds: the use of a victim’s identification information to obtain a new credit card account or to engage in other types of fraud.

Among these three types of ID theft, the one with the greatest impact was “New Accounts and Other Frauds.”

While the median value of goods and services obtained by the identity thieves for all three categories was $500, the median value of goods and services obtained by the identity thieves for “New Accounts and Other Frauds” alone was $1,350.

In addition, victims who fell under the “New Accounts and Other Frauds” category spent more time resolving issues stemming from the ID theft. While the median number of hours spent by all ID theft victims was only four hours, the median number of hours associated with “New Accounts and Other Frauds” was 10 hours. In fact, the top 5 percent of victims in that category reported spending at least 1,200 hours cleaning up the ID theft’s aftermath.

How Thieves Can Steal Your Identity

From the high-tech to the old-fashion, ID thieves have devised a variety of methods to steal a victim’s identity. Among the methods employed by ID thieves are:

• Dumpster Diving: Rummaging through a victim’s trash looking for bills or other pieces of paper with personal information.

• Skimming: Stealing credit card numbers by using a special device while processing the card.

• Phishing: Sending spam or pop-up messages to a victim while pretending to be a financial institution or company in order to get the victim to reveal personal information.

• Change of Address: Diverting a victim’s billing statements to another location by submitting a change of address form.

• Stealing: Obtaining a victim’s personal information by stealing wallets and purses or mail.

And the ID thieves are coming up with new methods all the time. In fact, there is a new form of ID theft in which thieves can steal victims’ IDs simply by guessing their Social Security number.

Since 1980, Social Security numbers began following a pattern based on an individual’s place and date of birth, and ID thieves have discovered this pattern. Using an advanced statistical technique, ID thieves have been able to correctly predict the first five numbers of a victim’s Social Security number up to 44 percent of the time.

So, with all of these methods used by ID thieves, what are consumers to do?

When it comes to ID theft, the best defense is to remain vigilant. You should keep an eye out for any suspicious mail that you might receive, and you should check all three of your credit reports routinely, looking for any activity that should not be there.