The Risks of Sharing Your Personal Information

Crooks are finding new ways to pilfer your data.

- EMMA PATCH

RAJ ANANTHANPILLAI is founder and CEO of Trua, an identity verification and screening company.

Why do you call this the new golden age for identity theft? Everybody is giving away their Social Security number, date of birth or where they live, whether it's to sign up for a gym membership or for discounts on groceries, because they think they're getting something of value. But these companies are collecting your personal information. Not only does that put you at risk if the data is hacked, but companies may turn around and sell it to third parties. Some of this information is then stolen and bartered on the "dark web"-where users and website operators are anonymous and untraceable. Companies are supposed to get your consent before sharing your information with third parties, but it's on 13 to 15 pages of fine print that 99% of people can't understand, so they agree to the terms.