Personal Finance For Dummies®, 6th Edition

Chapter 22. Ten Tactics to Thwart Identity Theft and Fraud

In This Chapter

• Protecting your personal information

• Paying attention to activity in your accounts and credit history

Hucksters and thieves are often several steps ahead of law enforcement officials. Eventually, some of the bad guys get caught, but many don't, and those who do get nabbed often go back to their unsavory ways after penalties and some jail time. They may even be in your neighborhood or on your local Little League board. (For an enlightening read, check out Dr. Martha Stout's book The Sociopath Next Door [Broadway Books].)

Years ago when I lived on the West Coast, I got a call from my bank informing me that it had just discovered "concerning activity" on the joint checking account I held with my wife. Specifically, what had happened was that a man with a bogus ID in my name had gone into five different Bank of America branches on the same day and withdrawn $80 from our checking account at each one. After some detective work on my part, I discovered that someone had pilfered our personal banking information at my wife's employer's payroll office. Fortunately, the bank made good on the money that it had allowed to be withdrawn by the Eric Tyson impostor.

I had been the victim of identity theft. In my situation, the crook had accessed one of my accounts; in other cases, the criminal activity may develop with someone opening an account (such as a credit card) using someone's stolen personal information. Victims of identity ...