I work in a financing firm and I do credit checks on people all day. All I need is your first/last name, and an address... pretty much, I can look you up in the phone book and have your SSN and credit history information. It's almost too easy... My mom was an ID theft victim. They opened with multiple credit cards, racked up $1800 in hardware and phone bills over Nextel and they're still out there. I actually had to sign her up for this thing I saw on Americas Most Wanted. Anytime, anywhere, anyone wants to use your name and SSN, they notify you of it first. There's a fee, but it's worth it at this point....