Identity theft by Name+Address+DOB?

[anotherlife]

Can people steal your identity by your name, address, and date of birth? I had to fill this in at a gun range in the USA recently, and I am wondering if this is enough to open credit cards, bank accounts, and buy things in my name? If yes, what can I do to protect my identity? Thanks.

 

[Ringel05]

There is no way to completely protect one's identity. The best way is to default on loans, credit cards, etc and buy a house and have it foreclosed on. The worse your credit the less likely your identity will be stolen.......
As for your specific concern, the short answer is yes, the long answer is probably not as there's no SSN, credit card account numbers, bank account numbers, etc accompanying it which means the thief will have to do some digging to find those items. If you're that concerned there are services which will contact you if anything shows up indicating your identity/et. al. is potentially in jeopardy, stop it and cover you if they can't or didn't stop it.

 

[Chuckt]

Can people steal your identity by your name, address, and date of birth? I had to fill this in at a gun range in the USA recently, and I am wondering if this is enough to open credit cards, bank accounts, and buy things in my name? If yes, what can I do to protect my identity? Thanks.

Watch your credit reports. Watch what comes in the mail and read everything.

 

[g5000]

Can people steal your identity by your name, address, and date of birth? I had to fill this in at a gun range in the USA recently, and I am wondering if this is enough to open credit cards, bank accounts, and buy things in my name? If yes, what can I do to protect my identity? Thanks.

You can't open a bank account without an ID. But an identity thief is usually a forger, too. So with your name and birth date, they can forge a fake ID. But they will probably need your SSN, too. I don't remember if I had to provide my SSN to get a credit card. I'm pretty sure I needed to provide it to open a bank account.

I shred all of my mail as a precaution. Anything that has my name and address on it. I peel labels off any packages I get in the mail, too, and shred those.

And I don't enter any raffles at malls or anywhere else. Those are scams precisely for the purpose of getting your name and address.

Unfortunately, if you own a house, any jackass can look up on the internet who owns it. They can drive down your street and get addresses off the houses and then find out the names of the owners of those addresses.

Nothing you can do about that.

Your best protection is to make sure your online bank passwords are complicated and unpredictable, and check your accounts at least twice a week for suspicious activity. The same holds for any online brokerage or other financial accounts you have.