Identity thieves steal information in several ways, such as:

-Digging through trash cans and other places to find documents that contain credit card numbers, account numbers, Social Security Numbers and other personal information
-Retrieving information from lost or discarded computer equipment, mobile phones and PDAs, or wallets
-Using rogue Radio-Frequency Identification readers; stealing checks, credit cards, debit cards, passports, driver’s licenses, Social Security cards; or skimming the information from card readers to create new cards
-Stealing information from personal computers using malware or spyware
-Hacking into computer networks and databases to steal large amounts of personal information or infiltrating organizations that store large amounts of valuable information
-Acting as a trusted organization to obtain personal information and/or financial information through the mail, telephone, text messaging and email