How Do Identity Thieves Profile You? PrivacyCheck Can Help You Stay Safe

Identity thieves are always hunting for their next victims. They don’t just select random data to steal. In fact, it’s often the case that ID thieves intentionally choose certain people to hack or trick into giving up valuable personally identifiable information (PII). Chances are high that you will someday be an identity theft target—if it hasn’t happened to you already!

It’s helpful for you to know how identity thieves select their victims, so that you can take steps to avoid becoming easy prey down the road. You also want to know what tools are at your disposal to help monitor your data. While it is impossible to prevent identity theft, you can certainly make it difficult for thieves to get ahold of your personal information by educating and empowering yourself.

How does an identity thief pick a target?

Thieves profile their potential victims based on a couple of indicators:

• Do you seem to have a lot of money?
• Do you seem like an easy target?

If you meet both of these requirements, that’s even better news to the thief!

Thieves want your money.

Thieves are clever in how they assess whether you could be a valuable target. Let’s say you make a few social posts, sharing news about some big purchases or online investments that you recently made.

Maybe you retired or received an inheritance, and you want to let your friends know. Thieves who keep an eye on social media will see these posts and assume that you have quite a bit of money for them to snatch.

Your data is up for grabs.

Even if you don’t seem to have a lot of money, thieves may still jump at the chance to steal your identity if it is easy to snag. If you overshare personal information online, it’s easy for a thief to use that against you.

Or perhaps you have fallen for scams in the past or been affected by a data breach. Unfortunately, this could mean that your data is on the dark web for thieves to find and reuse for new nefarious purposes.

What does an identity thief do when they have your information?

Now that a thief has decided to target you, it’s time for them to act. They may scan the web to find public information about you, such as your name, address, phone number, email address, photos, and other easily accessible data.  

Once they find this low-hanging fruit, they can start the harder work of hacking into your accounts. If your data was exposed in one of the many data breaches that plague large companies these days, the thief can find or buy your info to help break into your private online accounts.

A thief who has gained access to your accounts has successfully stolen your identity. Now, they can act under your name. This includes making purchases, acquiring services, racking up medical bills, taking out loans, claiming government benefits, or even committing crimes. If they do a decent job at covering their tracks, they leave the bills and the blame for you to deal with while they get away free.

How can you help protect yourself from becoming a target?

We can’t guarantee that you can avoid identity theft. However, you can take several steps to help persuade identity thieves that you are not an easy target. Here are a few ideas:

• Use strong, unique passwords for each online account that you have.
• Beware of what you share online. Opt out of posting about money, possessions, or personal details.
• ‍Verify before you click! Scammers can spoof phone numbers and email addresses to make messages look like they’re from someone you trust. Before clicking on a link, confirm directly with the sender—call or message them on a known number to make sure they actually sent it. Malicious links could be a thief’s ploy to deceive you or take over your device/account.
• Protect your Social Security number (“SSN”). Keep your Social Security card in a secure, secret location, and only share your SSN with official parties who need to know it.
• Shred or burn sensitive documents when you are finished with them to prevent identity thieves from getting their hands on them.  

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Have you used IDShield’s PrivacyCheck feature?

Since protecting against identity theft is so much easier than trying to resolve it after it has become a problem, IDShield has created a new feature called PrivacyCheck to help our members! Don’t wait to find out the hard way if your personal information is available to the public.  

PrivacyCheck can locate your sensitive personal info on top data broker sites and helps to remove it before brokers can sell it to other companies. This keeps your data away from potential thieves and other unwanted parties.

You can rest easier when you take advantage of the great benefits that your IDShield Membership offers you! Use PrivacyCheck today to help protect yourself and your personal data.

Scan now

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (“PPLSI”) provides access to identity theft services through membership-based participation. IDShield is a product of PPLSI. Some of the services provided under the plan by third party providers are subject to change without notice. All Licensed Private Investigators are licensed in he state of Oklahoma. The information made available in this blog is meant to provide general information and is not intended to provide professional advice, render an opinion, or provide a recommendation as to a specific matter. The blog post is not a substitute for competent and professional advice. Information contained in the blog may be provided by authors who could be third-party paid contributors. All information by authors is accepted in good faith; however, PPLSI makes no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of such information.