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SAINT JOHN - Identity theft isn't new and it isn't as simple as just stealing a credit card and maxing out the credit limit, said a member of the city police's fraud unit.

By stealing portions of a person's identity such as a driver's licence, debit card or medicare number, a thief can create a persona and apply for loans under an assumed identity - possibly yours.

"They are taking your personal information, your date of birth, or whatever they can obtain and then they'll go and obtain credit," said Const. Tony Hayes. "So that's why I recommend to everybody that they check their credit."

Credit reports can be obtained through companies such as Equifax and TransUnion.

This week, officials at Loch Lomond Villa confirmed that a staff member had downloaded residents' personal information onto a laptop computer and had taken it home. Somehow, the personal information ended up online. The data contained the names of 196 nursing home residents, medicare numbers, birth dates, as well as the names and phone numbers of next of kin.

The province's ombudsman and privacy commissioner, Bernard Richard, is looking into the incident and the villa has launched its own internal investigation.

To avoid identity theft, Hayes said people should be looking for new accounts being opened or credit obtained in their name or any change to their credit rating.

"What they can do is assume your identity and change your mailing address so that you never receive any documents from these companies," said Hayes.

Identity crooks change the mailing addresses so victims never have any idea an account has been opened using their personal information. But eventually, said Hayes, they could receive a call or knock on the door from a credit company looking to settle debts the victim never incurred.

"That's the worst-case scenario," said Hayes.

The information can be obtained as easily as stealing mail from someone's mailbox or by picking through garbage in search of old bills.

"If you get anything sent from the bank, you've got your account numbers on there."

Personal computers contain can massive amounts of personal information. And while people often believe the delete key was enough to remove it before selling the computer or giving it away, that data can resurface if it's not done properly or it can be recovered by a skilled thief.

While many thieves steal laptops just to resell them for a quick score, more sophisticated thieves are looking for personal data that is often stored within.

"Whatever is in that, it's available," said Hayes of computers.

The volume of fraud, the mobility of the thieves and even the fact that thieves may be orchestrating frauds from another country or continent, makes Hayes' job difficult.

"Typically it's the same thing they're taking, it's the way they devise to take it. When they learn a new step, we learn a new step," said Hayes of technology and scams.

"If you build a lock, they're figuring out how to pick it so then we figure out how to build a different one and they figure out how to pick that and that's the way this whole thing works."