Identity theft occurs when somebody uses your identity to commit crimes. An important distinction here is that that somebody is not actually you. They lead others to believe that they are you, so you get all of the blame and consequences. Unfortunately, there are no known cases where an identity thief has committed random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty and left the credit to his victim. Instead, they create a variety of problems in your name. Identity theft is a serious crime, usually involving some type of fraud.

Who Are You?

Identity theft can get really complicated. The problem is that businesses, governments, and organizations don't really know who you are. They have never met you, and they could not put a face to your name. The reality of the world today is that computers keep track of things for us. There are just too many people out there; even if you are really good at remembering names, you can't remember them all.

An identity thief will take advantage of this. Even though they're not really you, they lead others to believe that they are. How do they do this? They use some distinct characteristics that are supposedly unique to you, and only you. Not surprisingly, the big ones are your name, address, date of birth, and Social Security Number. Think about it: these are the characteristics that organizations ask for whenever you apply for a driver's license, credit card, auto loan, bank account, or insurance.

Long, long ago, these characteristics must have held more meaning. Presumably, they were top-secret information that only you and your trust worthy business partners knew. Over time, people got lazy and began to use these characteristics more and more publicly. Colleges assigned Student ID numbers that happened to be the student's Social Security Number. Driver's licenses displayed Social Security Numbers, and Internet user names were often Social Security Numbers.

Where To Go from Here

Granted, there is some wisdom in using Social Security Numbers. A consumer can hardly remember twenty different user IDs, but they often remember their Social Security Number. The problem is that the Social Security Number is at the top of the information hierarchy. There is nothing more unique about you than your Social Security Number; at least, there is nothing practical and widely affordable at the present time. Your DNA is substantially more unique, but it is hard for the customer-service representative on the other end of the line to verify this.

Don't be surprised to see increased use of fingerprints, retina scans, voice recognition, DNA testing, and a variety of other sophisticated tools in the future. These methods will certainly make it harder for identity thieves to claim that they are somebody else. However, criminals are notoriously pesky and creative. For years, Hollywood movies have shown ways that a creative person might circumvent these security measures. Whether or not criminals will use the same methods is unclear, but there is no doubt that they will find a way to beat the system.

I Am You

In the meantime, identity theft is relatively easy. All a would-be thief needs to do is write your name, address, Social Security Number, and birthday on an application. They are now you, and because of this, they have all of the same rights and powers that you do. They can change your address, use your credit to open accounts, withdraw your money, and more. If you are starting to get nervous, that's good.

Some identity thieves assume your identity in every sense of the word. They're not just looking to steal some money from a credit card company. Instead, they want to live an entire life under your identity. These people may be in the country illegally — perhaps they just want a shot at the American dream, or perhaps they are terrorists. Some of these folks are hiding from the past. They may not want somebody to find them, like law-enforcement officials, for example. As a result, they live their life as you. They give your name and information to employers, but they usually “forget” to pay income taxes on your Social Security Number.