Identity theft is most commonly accomplished through low-tech means

• Caren Bulmer's Visa bank card made a road trip last year to Manhattan, without ever leaving West Palm Beach or her wallet.
• In February of last year, someone used Bulmer's credit card to buy two $1,500 gift certificates at a Staples store, by having the cashier key in the numbers instead of swiping the card.
• Then they cashed them to buy computer laptops and printers.
• But while Congress lays out laws to protect Americans' personal information held by data brokers, only a fraction of identity thefts are pilfered from them.
• In fact, most ID theft results from decidedly low-tech schemes that range from a waiter's swiping your credit card through a pocket-sized imprinter to sell the number on the black market to low-lifes who Dumpster dive or fish for credit card receipts in a garbage container.
• That is a sobering fact, given that an estimated 9 million to 10 million Americans a year are victims of identity theft, and the number of complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission has risen each year since 2000, sometimes doubling.
• The Medicare card "has your Social Security number on it and they tell you not to carry your Social Security number," Kornblatt said.
• In whatever order, call the bank, the police and one of the nation's three credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion or Experion.
• No new credit card accounts or other debt will be granted in your name for 90 days, a period that can be extended to seven years by request.
• If you file a police report, you can take it to creditors," FTC Assistant Director Betsy Broder said.
• A week later, she got calls from Citgo and Amoco, checking personal data for gas cards for which she never applied.