Not All Identity Thieves are Strangers

Today most of us are aware of the dangers of identity theft and even know of a few precautions that can lessen our chances of becoming a victim – guard passwords; avoid conducting financial or personal transactions over public WiFi; keep personal information personal. But when we think of identity theft, we assume the thieves are strangers surreptitiously acquiring our personal information. What we don’t even consider is that members of our own families may be involved.

Recent reports disclosed that a significant number of identity thefts are committed by people close to us who have unique access to our information and know personal details that can be used to answer most any security question. This can be anybody: friend, parent, sibling, and it is a problem that is often overlooked when couples are getting a divorce. After all, who knows you more intimately than an ex-spouse? To learn about how prevalent this issue is, read David Matthau’s article on www.nj1015.com titled, “Your identity could be stolen … by a family member.”