Identity Theft Speaker Discusses Tricks Identity Thieves Use @McAfeeConsumer

It took Jessica Ashford more than 6 months to realize someone else was making money pretending to be her.

I called the IRS one afternoon to check on the status of my tax refund, and they essentially told me that they mailed my refund to someone in California. So considering I live in New York, that raised a red flag.

In all, 2012 was a banner year for tax refund ID theft. In fact, a study found that the IRS reported more than 640,000 cases that year, a 62% jump from 2011.

All a thief needs is your Social Security number, which they can get through paper records, your trash, or hacking into a database. And from there, they just file your taxes as early as possible, generally at the beginning of February.

The crazy thing is that I owed the IRS money, but they believed this person in California and still sent a refund.

Strange but true, and it's just one sneaky example of how fraudsters are hijacking your identity these days. Still another surprising victim: kids. Did you know that ID thieves target children 35 times more frequently than adults? According to a 2012 survey by AllClearID, 1 in 10 children were victims of identity theft, with the most likely targets those under the age of 5.

Parents don't have any reason to check a child's Social Security number, or their credit for that matter, up until they turn 18. A kid isn't supposed to have credit So why would a parent even check their credit report?

Again, all the thief needs is your child's Social Security number, and one common way to obtain it is by creating a virus to lift tax, healthcare, and school documents from a parent's computer.

Once the bad guy has opened up new accounts under your name or your child's name, they can go ahead and get mobile phones, utilities, they can get credit cards, bank accounts, they can refinance your own home. They can basically do anything that you can do with your good name and your credit But then they don't pay the bill and they ruin your credit.

A checklist for parents: make sure to get antivirus software updates on your computer regularly. Protect your child's Social Security number and shred any documents containing your child's personal information. Finally, check to see if your debit or credit card has an RFID, or radio frequency identification chip. You can usually find the logo here, and this is yet another way thieves are snatching your ID and financial information. While this relatively new technology can help you pay faster, it's also making life easier for identity thieves as it allows them to access your bank information wirelessly. Even while resting safely in your wallet or purse, a thief can extract your card information with a few simple and inexpensive gadgets. Since RFID chips were introduced back in 2005, the Justice Department says credit and debit card theft has been on the rise.

You're on the subway in the morning going to work or school, someone walks up to you and they It will wave a device near your pocketbook or your wallet, and that device can read the information off your credit or debit card via the radio frequency identification chip.

You can always buy an RFID-blocking wallet for added protection, or just call your bank and ask if they can reissue you a card without the technology. Back in New York, the IRS has informed Jessica it's recognized the error and that it could take several months to investigate the fraud. In the meantime, she's ordered all new bank cards and has been monitoring her credit.

The unfortunate thing is that I will never know who stole my identity. I can just be very careful and proactive to make sure this doesn't happen again.

And as always, we want to hear from you. What are some strange but true ID theft crimes? Connect with me on Twitter @farnoosh and use the hashtag #FinFit. For Yahoo Finance, I'm Farnoosh Torabi.