Information for Seniors: Understanding How Identity Thieves Get Your Information

You may have heard a lot of talk lately about the perils of identity theft. If you are a senior, you may wonder exactly how these people can get your information in the first place. You may even think it is a crime that is occurring exclusively with individuals who use the internet to process payments and do online banking. This is not true. There are many ways that identity thefts can obtain your financial and identifying information. Here are some of the ways and places identity thieves can garner a senior's personal information:

Many identity thieves get information from their own workplace. Individuals who work with sensitive information-such as processing credit card orders and payments, working with dental and medical records, and other places where your private and personal information might be kept-are one of the places identity theft occurs. Individuals may have access to this information on the job, but they may also bribe someone else to get the information of hack into the records using computers. Individuals may also access your credit report information through their employer's access or use information gathered on the job to access even more private information.

Other identity thieves may go through your mail or garbage to get financial information and credit card statements. Even credit card offers, new checks, and other bills and statements can have enough information for an identity thief to be able to access your personal identity. Experts suggest shredding or burning these offers and information to make sure that they don't get into the wrong hands.

There is always the "traditional" way of gathering information by stealing your purse or wallet, or information stolen from your home-this is still a common way that individuals are able to access another's financial records and personal information.