Identity thieves gain access to your personal information in many ways, and new ways are being discovered each day. The best prevention tactic you can use against an ID-theft is by educating yourself. The more you know about how ID-theft works, the more alert you will be in certain situations and the more determined you will become about keeping your identifiable information secure. Here the basic methods of ID-theft that you should know about:

The old fashioned way of getting access to your credit and debit cards is by stealing your purse or wallet. It's a good idea to keep copies of all of the contents of your wallet in a lockbox so that if you ever lose your wallet or it gets stolen, you can quickly cancel any accounts before unauthorized charges are made.

When identity thieves break into your house, they make a beeline for your personal records, not your possessions. Not only do the thieves have access to your wallet but also to all of your personal files which can leave them with enough of a credit line to purchase much more than what your possessions are worth and not even have to pull a muscle doing it!

This term is used to describe fraudulent emails that trick the recipient into providing credit card numbers and other private data. Typical examples are:

• Requests from legitimate institutions to verify account information to prevent an account from being closed. The email may even look like it comes directly from your bank, credit card company, or an online service like Paypal or Ebay.
• An offer for a product or service that requests you pay for the item by providing a credit card number through the email or through an insecure website.

This term is self-explanatory. Identity thieves will go to any length to get the information they need including digging through the garbage cans at residences or corporate buildings for checks, credit card and bank statements, pre-approved credit card offers and other personally identifiable records.

Computers are a target. Hacking into your personal computer or through a company's firewall and into their customer databases containing personal and/or financial information is something to be concerned with. See the Defense page on this website for information on the options available to you when it comes to securing your computer and your data.

In addition to technical methods, because of their size laptops are easily stolen and if your computer's operating system isn't password protected, even someone who doesn't know the first thing about computer programming can gather the information desired.

Identity thieves complete a Change of Address form with the local Post Office to divert your mail elsewhere (usually to a P.O. Box or other difficult-to-track location). Thankfully, post offices now send a "Move Validation Letter" to both the old and new address when a Change of Address is filed which requests that you call an "800" number if you did not file the change.

Sometimes identity thieves will call the credit card company with which you have an account and have the monthly statements sent to a new address so that you don't notice the unauthorized charges immediately.

Typical scams used to lure you into divulging information about yourself for an erroneous offer include:

• Phone calls where salespeople dangle exceptional deals on various goods, services or even loans if you are quick to provide personal data.
• Fake job postings on online career sites that otherwise seem legitimate, but the information requested for a “background check” isn't used for that purpose.
• Work-at-home offers.

Identity thieves fraudulently obtain your credit report by posing as employer, landlord, or another person or entity who has legitimate need to review the report.

This term is used to describe when identity thieves watch or listen to you when you're involved in an activity that requires you to share your personal information. Typical examples are:

• Watching you enter your Personal Identification Number when you're at the ATM or at a grocery store.
• Listening to your telephone conversation as you are providing a credit card number for a purchase.
• Watching you enter your calling card number into a pay phone before dialing.

Note: The information on this page is excerpted from ID-Theft Protector 2005. More information on different types of scams and how to avoid them, legislation that protects your rights as a consumer, and simple forms that make it easy to create your own protection plan are included in this comprehensive software. Click here for more information on ID-Theft Protector 2005.