Identity theft is becoming a huge problem not just in the United States but many other developed countries throughout the world. The theft occurs in a number of ways but the majority happens through just a few common sources. I will break those down to help you understand better how it happens and how it is done so you can protect yourself more efficiently. Below covers both identity theft and credit card theft.

Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are popular by hackers and thieves for stealing everything from passwords to credit cards numbers and social security numbers. These scams are done by presenting a website page that looks legit such as a login to a bank. The website is not an official website but actually a website set up by the thieves to trick you into thinking it is a legit website so you will put in all of your information for them to steal. They do this through many ways such as sending fake emails, posting links on popular websites

Shady Websites (who process their own sales)

It is pretty self-explanatory, a website processes it’s own sales meaning it has access to a lot of confidential information when you make a purchase. The company charges you for the product and ships it just like any other store, but what you didn’t know was they sold your personal and billing information for some extra money. This is becoming less and less prevalent as most legit websites and even some major retailers will let you pay through a secure source such as Paypal or Google Checkout.

Spy-ware, Keyloggers, Sniffer Programs

This is becoming one of the most common ways that identities, credit cards, and social security numbers are stolen. Through these three ways the black-market is blowing up with information that could be yours.  Spy-Ware is something most know about but this helps plant the keyloggers on your computer that records everything you type and can also tell where you type these things in. What happens is the criminals programs do a search for when you would be putting in credit card and other sensitive information and steal the numbers. The sniffer programs are much the same as they get onto your computer through many different ways and can see exactly what you are doing and find any information. Lately sniffer programs have been installed into wireless routers in public places as well as homes by just driving through neighborhoods and business centers looking for unsecured networks to place their program into.

Credit Card Swiping

This has become a major problem is recent years with many new cell phones having the capability to scan credit cards and keep their information stored. This isn’t just isolated to small shops as a large ring was just busted for doing this at major fast food chains in Florida. How it works is they take your credit card when you are paying for whatever you just bought and right after they scan it on the cash register they also slip it by their pocket where the phone or other electronic device then scans all of the information. After they get enough cards swiped they will sell them to usually a pre-determined criminal or organized crime group.

Physical Stealing

This is what many people think about but this is becoming less and less of a danger when compared to the massive automation of stealing on the internet. It still is a major problem though from people stealing wallets to people digging through the trash to try to find documents they can use. Stealing many times is used by smaller level criminals and illegal immigrants looking for information to create a new identity to be able to work in the country. The best thing you can do in this situation is just invest in a shredder for $30 that will cover everything you need. If you run a business you may want to look into services in your area that will destroy all of your paperwork for relatively cheap.

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Overall you just need to go through a series of precautions and learn the basics of these situations. In future posts I hope to break down the major ways of identity theft and show you the best ways to prevent these. A lot of times you can prevent them with just a few minutes of learning. I would also recommend a service like LifeLock or TrustedID just to have another person on your side as your identity may already be compromised without you even knowing.