Other types of fraud

• A thief presents your stolen driver's license to law enforcement when apprehended for crimes or traffic-related offenses. When the identity thief fails to appear in court, warrants are issued in your name. This can result in suspension of your driver's license and loss of auto insurance.

• American passports can be an attractive target for identity thieves at home as well as abroad. Travelers should keep their passports on their person at all times, and also keep photocopies of their passports on hand in a separate place from the passport. In the case of passport theft, contact the passport office immediately.

Theft of mail is one of the most common methods identity thieves use to obtain information about their victims. Using your stolen mail, identity thieves will contact your bank and credit card companies and change the mailing addresses on your accounts, claiming to be you. This prevents you from discovering that your identity has been stolen for weeks or even months. Thieves may also submit a false change-of-address order in order to hijack sensitive information from your mail.

· A common tactic for identity thieves is to call people and trick them into giving out their personal information. They might pose as a financial institution asking to "confirm" your account information, or claim that you have won a prize, in hopes of getting you to volunteer your credit card number or other personal details. Never give any personal information over the telephone unless you initiated the call and are certain of whom you are calling. If you have any doubts about the caller, hang up and call the organization back at their legitimate customer service number.

· An identity thief may take the extreme measure of filing for bankruptcy using your name to avoid paying debts incurred under your name. You may very well have no idea that this has happened until you have your credit report checked.

· Thieves can steal the legitimate Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN's) from cars in parking lots, in gas stations or from Internet auto sales listings. They then attach the numbers to stolen vehicles of the same model and offer them for sale or distribute them in different states. Since states do not share registration details among each other, one car can be registered in multiple states at the same time. Many cars with altered VIN's are sold to other criminals, but they then turn up at auto auction houses and car dealerships. Cars are then sold to buyers who are unaware of the fraud.

· Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals your identity and either obtains medical insurance in your name or uses your current medical insurance policy to obtain treatment or prescriptions. Medical identity theft frequently results in erroneous entries being put into existing medical records, and can involve the creation of fictitious medical records in the victim's name. You can be denied health coverage or lose your current health coverage because of false information placed in your medical record.

· In one of the most extreme forms of identity theft, the thief is a criminal using the victim's information to establish a new life. They work and live as you. These thieves might be illegal aliens, fugitives avoiding warrants, or persons abandoning their own poor work and financial history. If brought up on criminal charges, the imposter presents the victim's identification to law enforcement instead of his or her own. Warrants can be issued in your name, and you could end up being arrested and spending time in jail.