Identity theft means someone steals your personal information and pretends to be you. Usually, this is so that they can access your accounts, but sometimes, it’s for other reasons, such as catfishing. There are different ways these thieves may attempt to steal your identity.

Hacking: Internet services use data security to protect their customers’ personal information. Think of that security like a safe at a bank. The safe itself is a device created to keep people out. Plus, very few people have access to the code to get in. Hackers do their best to break in, sometimes by breaking equipment and sometimes by stealing the entry codes.

Phishing: Phishing is when identity thieves use fake websites that look like real websites to get people’s personal information. Most often, they’ll create emails labeled with names that look similar to the real thing or use stolen logos and color schemes to make you think you’re on a legitimate website. Once you enter your password or other personal information on their fake site, they copy it down for later use.

For example, the real Wells Fargo Bank sends emails to customers from the email address alerts@notify.wellsfargo.com. To trick you, a phishing scammer might use something like alerts@notifications.wellsfargo.com or wellsfargo@gmail.com. It can be hard to spot the difference if you’re not paying close attention.

Fake Profiles: A fake profile is a form of identity theft where someone steals personal information and creates a fake social media profile with it. The thief uses the profile to trick people into connecting with them online or in real life.

Adults may use fake profiles to lure teenagers into dangerous things, such as predatory sexual encounters and trafficking. People have also used fake profiles to spread rumors and steal money.

For these reasons, it’s a good idea to keep your personal information set to “private” whenever you’re using social media and avoid giving too many details about your personal life.

You should also be cautious whenever you interact with someone you don’t know in real life on the internet. It’s possible they aren’t who they claim to be.