May 15, 2007

NEWS: Common Surnames Have Greater Risk

A disturbing new trend has been emerging from the fronts of the battle against identity theft. Conventional wisdom points to several factors that can increase one’s risk of having identity theft perpetrated against them, such as laxity with one’s personal identification, and leaving one’s car unlocked when one’s purse is sitting in plain view on the passenger seat inside. But who would have guessed that having a common last name is, in and of itself, a risk factor? News affiliate CBS4 in Aurora, Colorado, recently ran a story that seemed to indicate that, if your name is common enough, identity thieves sharing your name could potentially prey on your with very little problem.

Imagine you have one of those names – names that are incredibly common. On the East coast, it might be “Smith,” on the West coast, “Garcia” or “Gomez.” Imagine that there are five pages of people with your surname in your city alone, and that your name is not particularly unique. Theoretically, a “John Smith” from a thousand miles away could get a hold of your credit card number, and make fradulent purchases costing you thousands of dollars in fraud and headaches – all while using his own identification!

Of course, identity thieves tend to be able to wreak havoc wherever they go, regardless of the name, sex, age, race, or location of their victim. And some identity theft experts are dubious about the validity of the claims about the popular surnames. That’s why a little prevention never hurts.


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