Identity theft is a list of very ordinary things

"Identity theft" gets thrown around as a scary, vague phrase, which is exactly why it's worth making concrete. Here's what someone actually does with a stolen identity, according to the Australian Federal Police.

The actual list

Take over a social media account. Open a bank or building society account in your name. Apply for a loan, a credit card, or government benefits. Register a vehicle or a business. Apply for a passport, a driving licence, or a mobile phone contract. None of it needs your face or your signature, most of it just needs enough details typed into the right form.

None of these need your face or your signature. Most of them just need enough details typed into the right form.

Why it works

Nobody needs your whole life story to pull this off. A name, a date of birth, and an address, gathered from an old data breach, a careless social media post, or a convincing phone call, is often enough to get started. The pieces compound, each one makes the next form a little easier to fill in convincingly.

What actually helps

Check whether your own email address has turned up in a known breach, and use a different password everywhere so one leak doesn't unlock everything else. If something's already gone wrong, Australia has a free service built exactly for this.