Who is most likely to be targeted by Identity Thieves?

Anyone can be targeted by identity thieves, but from their point of view the best victims are those that have a good credit name and plenty of money in their accounts, and also those that are most careless with their personal information.  This means that two major age groups are most targeted by identity thieves and fraudsters, young professional (18-30) and also seniors (50+).  Young people just starting out in their careers are more likely to have a number of active credit and debit cards that they use regularly to pay for goods and services both home and abroad, and are also less likely to check their bank account statements and credit card bills for any suspicious activity, which can mean thieves and fraudster can operate without fear of being caught out too quickly. Learn more about id theft protection.

Young professionals are also more likely to move around a lot, without remembering to forward on all of their mail and this can make them much more vulnerable to identity thieves as important mail will still being going to old addresses, where it can be intercepted and misused by the thieves.  Statistically young professionals have also proved to be less carefully with the storage and disposal of their personal details, which makes it easier for the thieves to access the data in the first place.

Seniors are vulnerable to identity thieves as they are more likely to have built up good credit records, which means that their stolen details can be used more successfully by identity thieves to apply for credit, goods and services in their names.  Seniors are also more likely to have built up savings and ‘nest eggs’, which means rich pickings for the thieves if they can steal enough information about the victim to access their bank accounts, or trick the victim into participating in a scam.