Can Someone Steal Your Identity With Your ID?

Yes, someone can steal your identity with your government-issued ID or driver’s license. Any documents that contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – including your full name, home address, date of birth, photo or even your signature – can be used to steal your identity and target you with phishing scams.

Continue reading to learn what someone can do with your ID, how to tell if someone is using your ID, what to do if your ID is lost or stolen and how to keep your ID safe.

What can someone do with your ID?

Someone can do a variety of things if they have your ID, such as steal your identity, impersonate you to access money in your bank account, commit driver’s license fraud or sell your ID on the dark web.

Steal your identity

If your ID has been compromised through a data breach, someone can find it online and steal your identity. When documents containing your Social Security number (SSN), full name and ID are stolen through hacking or phishing attacks, your identity is jeopardized because anyone could use that information to impersonate you. Whether a cybercriminal’s target is you specifically or a company you have an account with, your PII is valuable and can lead to you becoming a victim of identity theft.

Impersonate you to get into your bank account

Once a cybercriminal has your ID, they can access your bank account, withdraw money and potentially open new lines of credit in your name. Even if your ID is expired, most financial institutions will allow it to be used to verify your identity, which means someone could use your expired ID to impersonate you.

Commit driver’s license fraud

Driver’s license fraud occurs when someone uses details from your ID to obtain an ID for themselves or another person. For example, if a cybercriminal found a picture of your ID online, they could alter your information to match theirs, making it appear like a valid ID for themselves. If a cybercriminal cannot get a driver’s license due to their citizenship status or having a revoked license, they may commit driver’s license fraud using your ID to obtain a real license.

Sell your ID on the dark web

Even if your ID is unintentionally compromised in a data leak, it can end up in the wrong hands and possibly on the dark web to be sold to other cybercriminals. The dark web is part of the internet that allows cybercriminals to carry out crimes while remaining anonymous, including identity theft. You cannot erase anything from the dark web, so once your ID is there, it will be available for many cybercriminals to see or use.

Create duplicates of your ID

A cybercriminal may use your driver’s license to create believable fake IDs for others to make a profit. To do this, a cybercriminal needs only your driver’s license number, not the entire ID. Imagine your driver’s license number becomes compromised and falls into the hands of someone who makes copies of your ID and then sells them to criminals. If a criminal gets caught for any crime with your ID, law enforcement could put those charges on your record instead of theirs. This situation is very dangerous because it will be challenging to prove that you didn’t commit those crimes since another person has your ID.

Target you with phishing scams

With your ID, anyone can target you with phishing scams by using the personal information associated with it to make believable messages that seem to come from legitimate people or companies. If someone has your ID, they can use your full name to look you up and find your email address or phone number. Once they have ways to contact you, someone could send you a phony message about suspicious activity in your bank account or an issue with a social media profile. By clicking on any links or interacting with these phishing messages, you risk becoming a victim of scams and identity theft.

How to tell if someone is using your ID

You can tell if someone is using your lost or stolen ID for malicious purposes by noticing the following:

• A new loan or line of credit that you did not authorize appears on your credit report, indicating that someone has used your ID to commit fraud
• You cannot log in to your online accounts, suggesting that someone used your ID and information associated with your ID to compromise your accounts
• You stop receiving mail, which could be a sign someone has altered the address on your ID to match theirs
• You start receiving calls from debt collectors about debt that isn’t yours, meaning someone has used your ID to impersonate you and been approved for credit cards or loans
• Your bank warns you of fraudulent activity, which means someone has used your ID to withdraw large amounts of money or make unauthorized transactions

What to do if your ID is lost or stolen

There are several things you should do if your ID has been lost or stolen, such as reporting the loss or theft to your state’s DMV, freezing your credit and filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Report your ID as lost or stolen with your state’s DMV

Regardless of where you live, you should report your ID as lost or stolen to your state’s motor vehicle services. In most instances, if your driver’s license has become lost or stolen, your state’s DMV will work with you to issue a replacement ID. Some states allow you to place a “Verify ID” flag on your driver’s license number once you know it’s lost or stolen, so if anyone tries to use your driver’s license, law enforcement will be notified and will ask the person for additional ways to confirm their identity.

Freeze your credit

A credit freeze prevents creditors from accessing your credit report, which means they also cannot approve new loans or lines of credit in your name. If you know your ID is lost or stolen, placing a credit freeze protects you from becoming a victim of identity theft because no one will be able to impersonate you to commit fraud. To place a credit freeze on your credit report, contact each of the three credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You can unfreeze it at any time.

File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

You should report your ID as stolen to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will use the information you provide to collaborate with law enforcement in investigating your identity theft. It’s important to file a report with the FTC as soon as possible so the FTC can share your experience with law enforcement to help recover your identity and use the information from your case to help protect others.

Secure your online accounts

Updating your online accounts with strong passwords is necessary for protecting your identity if your ID is lost or stolen because a cybercriminal could use your PII to hack into your accounts. To make strong passwords for each of your online accounts, make sure they consist of at least 16 characters and a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. By using stronger passwords, you make it much more difficult for cybercriminals to crack them and hack into your online accounts to steal your data.

In addition to changing your passwords to secure your accounts, you should also enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), which provides an extra layer of security by requiring another form of authentication to access your accounts. Some types of MFA include a PIN, an answer to a security question, a code from an authenticator app or biometrics. Another way to authenticate your identity on your accounts is by using a passkey, a passwordless method that lets you log in to multiple accounts or apps with one key – typically biometrics, a swipe pattern or a PIN. No matter which type of MFA you use, having more than one way to secure your account beyond a strong password will ensure nobody can access your private information, even if someone has stolen your ID.

How to keep your ID safe from bad actors

You can keep your ID out of cybercriminals’ hands by doing the following:

• Never send anyone a picture of your ID over the internet. Instead, use a secure file-sharing platform that encrypts your ID so no one can intercept your sensitive information and steal it.
• Always keep your credit frozen as a precaution so no one can open lines of credit or get loans in your name without your knowledge. If you lose your ID and have your credit frozen, others will be unable to damage your credit.
• Go paperless instead of receiving paper mail to prevent your PII from being stolen. Going paperless also means you won’t have documents with your PII on them that you’d have to shred to safely throw away since anyone could dig through the garbage for your mail.

Protect your identity with Keeper

Keeping your ID safe can be challenging if you ever lose it or get it stolen, but you can still protect your identity by being cautious about who you send pictures of your ID to, keeping your credit frozen, going paperless with your mail and securing your accounts with strong passwords. It helps to store photos of important documents or information in a secure, encrypted location, which is why you should use Keeper Password Manager. In addition to storing your passwords, Keeper Password Manager also allows you to keep photos, videos, documents and other files in a safe place.

Start your free 30-day trial of Keeper Password Manager to protect your ID from cybercriminals and easily update your passwords to make them strong and unique.