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Blog Privacy & Identity Protection What’s the Difference Between Identity Fraud
and Identity Theft?


HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IDENTITY FRAUD AND IDENTITY THEFT?



Amy Bunn

Mar 21, 2024

4 MIN READ

What’s the difference between identity fraud and identity theft? Well, it’s
subtle, so much so that it’s easy to use them nearly interchangeably. While both
can take a bite out of your wallet, they are different—and knowing the
differences can help you understand what’s at stake. 

Let’s start with an overview and a few examples of each. 


IDENTITY FRAUD IS … 

 * When someone steals or misuses your personal information to exploit an
   account or accounts you already have.  
 * Examples:  
   * A criminal gets a hold of your debit card information from a data
     breach and makes purchases with it against your bank account. 
   * A criminal gains access to one of your accounts via a phishing attack and
     misuses the funds or otherwise misuses the access associated with that
     account. 


IDENTITY THEFT IS … 

 * When someone uses your personal information to open and abuse new accounts
   or services in your name—or possibly to impersonate you in other ways. 
 * Examples: 
   * A criminal uses your personal information to open a new line of credit at a
     retailer under your name and then makes purchases against the line of
     credit.  
   * A criminal uses your Social Security Number to create a driver’s license
     with their likeness but your name and personal information. 

So there’s that subtle difference we mentioned. Identity fraud involves the
misuse of an existing account. Identity theft means the theft of your personal
information, which is then used to impersonate you in some way, such as opening
new accounts in your name. 

Above and beyond those definitions and examples, a couple of real-life examples
put the differences in perspective as well. 


IDENTITY FRAUD IN THE NEWS 

As for identity fraud, individual cases of fraud don’t always make the
headlines, but that’s not to say you won’t hear about it in a couple of
different ways.  

The first way may be news stories about data breaches, where hackers gain things
like names, emails, and payment information from companies or
organizations. That info can then end up in the hands of a fraudster, who then
accesses those accounts to drain funds or make purchases.  

On a smaller scale, you may know someone who has had to get a new credit or
debit card because theirs was compromised, perhaps by
a breach or by mistakenly making a payment through an insecure website or by
visiting a phony login page as part of a phishing attack. These can lead
to fraud as well. 


SPOTTING IDENTITY FRAUD AND THEFT (AND PREVENTING IT TOO) 

It usually starts with someone saying anything from, “That’s strange …” to “Oh,
no!” There’ll be a strange charge on your credit card bill, a piece of mail from
a bill collector, or a statement from an account you never opened—just to name a
few things. 

With that, I have a few recent blogs that help you spot all kinds of identity
crime, along with advice to help keep it from happening to you in the first
place: 

 * Top Signs of Identity Theft 
 * How to Report Identity Theft to Social Security 
 * Can Thieves Steal Identities with Only a Name and Address? 
 * Quizzes and Other Identity Theft Schemes to Avoid on Social Media 


KEEP A SHARP EYE OUT 

While there are differences between identity fraud and identity theft, they do
share a couple of things in common: you can take steps to prevent them, and you
can take steps to limit their impact should you find yourself faced with one or
the other.  

The articles called out above will give you the details, yet staying safe begins
with vigilance. Check on your accounts and credit reports regularly and really
scrutinize what’s happening in them. Consider covering yourself with an identity
monitoring solution — and act on anything that looks strange or outright fishy
by reporting it to the company or institution in question.  

INTRODUCING MCAFEE+

Identity theft protection and privacy for your digital life

Download McAfee+ Now



Stay Updated

Follow us to stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer
and mobile security threats.


Amy Bunn Chief Communications Officer

Amy Bunn is head of communications at McAfee and has worked in technology and
cybersecurity for over 15 years. During this time, Amy has witnessed the
changing technology landscape and...


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