Got Tape? You Can Steal an Identity

June 16, 2006 — -- A simple home-grown experiment by one crafty citizen showed just how easy it can be to steal someone's personal information.

Rob Cockerham was tired of getting pre-approved credit card applications in the mail and he reacted the way most of us do by cutting them up and throwing them in the trash.

But Cockerham wondered if that was enough to stop a thief from getting a credit card under his name.

So, he tried an experiment. He tore up a credit card application into tiny pieces, then reassembled all the scraps. Then he taped the whole thing back together. Next, Cockerham crossed out the address and wrote his parent's address instead.

You'd think no bank would accept this mess. But Cockerham sent it off just to make sure. He began documenting the process on his website, www.cockeyed.com and waited for the mailman.

"My father called me and said, 'I have some mail here,'" Cockerham said.

Amazingly his prank worked, and he soon found one thing thieves don't want you to know: It's ridiculously easy to use someone else's good credit to get a credit card in your name -- no questions asked.

"The most outrageous thing is that nobody stopped and said 'what is this?'"

said Bob Sullivan, the author of the identity theft book "Your Evil Twin." "If these red flags didn't set off an alarm bell at a credit card company, what would?"

Chase bank says they take fraud seriously -- and that damaged applications are often electronically scanned -- so no one may have seen its condition. And Cockerham's parents address may have been in his credit file since he did live their years earlier. After 20/20 contacted the bank they promised to change their policy and call applicants when they receive damaged applications. If your credit cards are hit by thieves you're usually not liable for the money they stole, but you could face a huge hassle cleaning up the mess.

There are other threats as well to your financial information, including the massive data thefts at companies that keep your personal records. Even small time crooks can easily buy the lastes technology and then use it to rip you off. Tiny devices like such as a portable credit card reader --