What is Identity Theft?

When a thief steals someone’s Social Security Number and attaches it to a new name, date of birth, and other personal information. This creates a new, fictitious person. This is one of the most common types of ID fraud.

Thieves often use someone’s personal information to create new credit card, utility, or cell phone accounts. They also use children’s stolen personal info to do this, which can go undetected for years because children don’t typically have credit reports.

When a thief gets a victim’s account login credentials, logs in, and adds themselves as an authorized user. Thieves can log in to your credit card account and make changes, or request a card. This type of fraud is difficult to detect with normal credit monitoring.

Thieves fill prescriptions and receive medical treatment using stolen personal information. Medical identity theft can impact victims’ medical files and their medical history. In worst case scenarios, medical treatment decisions are made based on false information, leading to medical harm.

When thieves use a business name to fraudulently bill clients, or try to get credit using the business name. Often, culprits either know the business owner or worked for them.