Things An Identity Thief Won't Tell You

Former identity thieves confess the tactics they use to scam you.

Check your bank and credit card balances at least once a week.
I can do a lot of damage in the 30 days between statements.

Credit cards have an embedded chip and require a PIN, which makes them a lot harder to hack. Here, I can duplicate the magnetic stripe technology with a $50 machine.

If a bill doesn’t show up when it’s supposed to, don’t breathe a sigh of relief.
Start to wonder if your mail has been stolen.

You throw away the darnedest things—preapproved credit card applications, old bills, expired credit cards, checking account deposit slips, and crumpled-up job or loan applications with all your personal information.

If you see something that looks like it doesn’t belong on the ATM or sticks out from the card slot, walk away. That’s the skimmer I attached to capture your card information and PIN.

Love that new credit card that showed up in your mailbox. If I can’t talk someone at your bank into activating it (and I usually can), I write down the number and put it back. After you’ve activated the card, I start using it.

From Reader's Digest Magazine