Stealing Credit Card Numbers
How to protect yourself against stolen credit card numbers
- Here are some important tips on how to protect yourself against credit card number theft, for shoppers and merchants.
How can someone steal my identity?
Identity thieves may use a variety of low- and high-tech methods to gain access to your personally identifying information. For example:
- They get
information from businesses or institutions by:
- stealing records from their employer,
- bribing an employee who has access to the records,
- conning information out of employees, or
- hacking
into the organization's computers.
- They rummage
through your trash, the trash of businesses, or dumps in a
practice known as "dumpster diving."
- They obtain
credit reports by abusing their employer's authorized access to
credit reports or by posing as a landlord, employer or someone
else who may have a legitimate need for and a legal right to the
information.
- They steal
credit and debit card account numbers as your card is processed by
using a special information storage device in a practice known as
"skimming."
- They steal
wallets and purses containing identification and credit and bank
cards.
- They steal
mail, including bank and credit card statements, pre-approved
credit offers, new checks, or tax information.
- They
complete a "change of address form" to divert mail to another
location.
- They steal
personal information from your home.
- They scam information from you by posing as a legitimate business person or government official.