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Identity thieves obtain your information by:
- stealing your wallet or your mail (from your mailbox or P.O. box); diverting your mail through a U.S. Postal Service change of address form
- stealing your information from businesses or other institutions that provide you with a products or services (this includes stealing, hacking, tricking or bribing an employee of these businesses)
- tricking you into divulging sensitive personal information through an email, over the phone or in person (sometimes by posing as a landlord, employer, service company employee or government official)
- “skimming” or stealing your credit or debit card numbers when you pay for an actual purchase
- stealing your credit reports from an authorized business (sometimes their employer)
- rummaging through your un-shredded trash (“dumpster diving”)
- burglarizing your home or office
Identity thieves then use a victim’s information to fraudulently open new credit cards, obtain loans, rent an apartment, obtain government assistance or other services, or even in the commission of another crime.
How do legitimate companies obtain and use your information?
When you provide your name, address, phone number, email and other personal information to any company for any reason, your name could end up on junk mailing, spam and telemarketing lists. Unless you explicitly limit the use of your information, the law allows most organizations to also share, rent or sell your information to other companies, such as list brokers, who then sell your information to thousands of other organizations! Even if you provide your information only for a specific purpose, companies may later use or sell your information.
What can be done to keep private information private?
It’s unreasonable to think you can completely prevent identity theft. But there are steps you can take to protect your privacy, reduce the availability and exchange of your information, and reduce your risk of becoming a victim of ID theft. These steps include questions to ask yourself and others before giving out your personal information; specific things you can do to exercise your privacy rights; and limiting the availability of your information to avoid putting your privacy, your identity and your credit at risk.
Although a host of federal and state laws address consumer privacy, most privacy protections are not automatic. You must protect yourself.
What the Privacy Trust Group can do to help you:
At the Privacy Trust Group, we’ve developed a series of educational programs and instructional books to help you protect your privacy. These programs and books explain the steps you can take to protect yourself from the threat of identity theft. Other Privacy Trust Group books explain the steps you must take to repair your credit and recover your good name if you are already a victim of identity theft. Our books and workbook on information privacy will help you control access to and the use of your personal information. By protecting the privacy of your information, you can eliminate the majority of unwanted mail, email and phone solicitations, reduce your exposure worldwide and you can protect yourself from identity theft. Additionally, we provide consulting services to assist you or your business in proactively addressing consumer privacy issues.
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