Identity Theft 2.0

I was reading just now in the July 30, 2007 edition on page 20 under the Newsfilter section of the Information Week magazine, by Tim Wilson site editor for www.darkreading.com about this next level in identity theft. All this while we were told to worry about properly disposing our trash, not reveal personal information over the web or over the telephone to unidentified persons etc. Now here is this innovative way of getting all your personal information including your social security number and also a copy of your passport.

Here is how it goes, a phony online recruiter has a phone interview with you, gets all your personal information, offers to fly you over for a personal interview and so gets you to fax/scan a copy of your passport to buy you a ticket and the next minute the recruiter has vanished and the company to which you are applying for the job says they have never heard of this recruiter.

Now with the copy of a passport you can go to an embassy and get a new passport.  Imagine all the possibilities of misuse if your passport falls in the wrong hands- someone could impersonate you, travel in your name, get access to your bank accounts, the list and possibilities are endless and to get it all back in order could take years and will be a nightmare