What can someone do with your name and address?

When you start to wonder what someone could do with your name and address, two things are likely true: you’re pretty sure someone has your name and address, and you’re worried about identity theft. Because identity theft is often the worst-case scenario that pops into mind, and there’s no denying that it’s a scary one.

But what exactly can someone do with your name and address? The short answer is: it depends. It depends on who you are, who “they” are, and—often—on what information they already have on you or can easily find about you.

The consequences range from “send you a letter” to “steal your identity.” Read on to see where your case falls on this spectrum and what you can do to protect yourself.

Adam Cholinski

In short, here’s what someone can do with your name and address:

• Use data brokers to find a lot more information about you;
• Search public records directly to find more of your personal data;
• Target you with phishing attacks to get more of your information;
• Commit mail fraud, including by redirecting your mail;
• Hide behind your identity when dealing with law enforcement.

Use data brokers to find a lot more information about you

Let’s cut to the chase: your full name and mailing address are rarely, if ever, going to be someone’s endgame. In the vast majority of cases, your name and address are stepping stones to more personal information, which can then be used to target you with the kinds of scams that can lead to financial losses and reputational damage.

Someone who has just your name already stands a pretty good chance of finding you on people search sites (a kind of data broker, companies that generate profits by buying, selling, and trading personal data). Having your address will help them narrow down their search and really zero in on you, even if your name is J. Smith.

Data brokers, including people search sites, can hold hundreds of data points on you, including:

• demographic information like your age and ethnicity
• employment history
• educational background
• licensing records (including driver’s licenses, firearms permits, even pets registered to your name)
• voting records
• criminal charges (with mugshots)
• court records (including divorce records)
• a map of your family members and associates (with links to their profiles)
• and so much more.

People search sites will give a lot of this information away for free. The rest can be had for as little as a dollar (these sites often offer $1 trial memberships). You’ll never know someone looked you up on one of these sites, and there are dozens of them to choose from.

The worst thing someone could do with your name and address is find more information about you (which they can then use to do you all kinds of harm, online and off, including stealing your identity). Cut these people off at the source by removing your information from all data brokers that have it.

Search public records directly to find more of your personal data

Let’s say you’ve signed up for an automated data removal service like Incogni, and that service has scrubbed your profile from all the major data brokers (including people search sites). Reputable data removal services will regularly re-do the whole opt-out phase, keeping your data off these sites.

A very determined attacker could still find almost all of that information on the public record. They might not be able to get your marital status and court records with just a couple of clicks, but they can still go to your local courthouse and painstakingly find the same information the old-fashioned way.

But most people won’t bother and will simply move on to an easier victim. You’d have to be extremely wealthy and/or famous to appear on the radar of one of these highly motivated attackers. That, or someone really has it out for you.

You can petition your local authorities to have some of your public records suppressed, under some circumstances. Seek legal advice and the support of local law enforcement if you feel you’re in danger because of information concerning you on the public record.

Target you with phishing attacks to get more of your information

Continuing the theme of attackers (spammers, scammers, and identity thieves) using your name and address to get more of your personal data, we come to what is too often the richest source of your personal information—you. And no, this isn’t the part where we encourage you to delete your social media accounts (although you should).

A scammer can start with just your name and address, but if they want to get some money out of you or steal your identity, they’ll need a lot more than that. What they can’t find on people search sites, they’ll try to get directly from you. They’ll probably do this before combing the public record directly. Why? Because it’s usually quicker and easier.

So, scammers and other cybercriminals will often take what little information they already have on you and use it to design a phishing attack to use against you. This can take the form of a fake delivery text (maybe they’ve noticed you receive a lot of Amazon packages, for example), a fake sweepstakes competition too good to pass up, or simply calling you and pretending to be a representative of whatever organization they think you’ll trust the most (the IRS, Microsoft, or your bank).

Commit mail fraud, including redirecting your mail

Mail fraud is particularly relevant here because it often requires little more than your name and address to perpetrate. A criminal (because mail fraud is very much a crime) might redirect your mail to a PO Box or address that they control. All it takes is for them to gather enough of your personal information to fill out a change of address form and lodge it with the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Once they’re receiving your mail, they can monitor it for documents like your bank statements, tax documents, Social Security documents, and driver’s license renewal forms. Mail like this can be a treasure trove of sensitive information, including financial information. Your mail can reveal your bank account number, financial accounts, and even your Social Security number.

With this much personal info at hand, mail fraud—already a serious concern—can turn into tax fraud or identity theft in no time at all.

Hide behind your identity when dealing with law enforcement

This is probably the most low-tech and low-level use someone could put your name and address to. Criminals can sometimes get away with providing someone else’s name and address when identifying themselves to law enforcement officers. In its simplest form, this means simply claiming not to have ID and providing someone else’s details.

A more elaborate version involves finding someone that looks similar enough to the criminal and using that person’s details to create a fake ID. However it’s done, it’d only likely work for very low-priority interactions with law enforcement, like minor traffic violations and other misdemeanors.

A good sign that it’s happening is that you’ve started receiving fines, warnings, or (however unlikely) court summonses for misdemeanors and infractions you’re not responsible for.

What you can do to protect yourself

All this can sound pretty scary, but there’s a lot you can do to protect yourself. Follow the advice below and the chances of someone using your name and address drop to almost zero. Even that rare case of someone who’s hyper focused on you specifically will find it difficult to defraud or otherwise harm you.

Use a PO Box

Take your physical address, your home, out of the equation by separating your mailing address from your residential address. The easiest way to do this is to contact your post office and ask about setting up a PO Box. This won’t solve all your problems, but at least anyone who gets your mailing address won’t automatically have your home address.

PO Boxes also tend to be more secure than home letterboxes, meaning that people stealing your mail after it’s been delivered will have a harder time doing so.

Lock down your mailbox

If you choose not to go with a PO Box for all your sensitive mail, or if it’s not an option where you live, you can at least take care of the physical security of your mail once it’s in your mailbox. Put a lock on your mailbox, or replace it with a more secure model.

Get (and use) a document shredder

Other than stealing mail from your mailbox, your curb-side trash is another great source of financial information and other personal info for fraudsters. In many states, trash left out on the curb or in a communal dumpster essentially becomes public property. So rifling through your trash may even be completely legal.

A document shredder might seem like a throwback to a ‘90s office setting, but it remains the second-best way to prevent documents from being recovered from your trash. Why second-best? Because the best way is not to have paper documents lying around in the first place. So take the electronic route wherever you can and shred the rest (once you’re done with it, of course).

This is particularly important if you’re self-employed or run your own business: you’ve likely got more paper invoices and other documents floating around than the average person. 

Follow up with your local post office whenever something looks suspicious

Don’t ignore suspicious activity to do with your mail, especially during tax season. If anything looks off, like mail coming to your address that’s not addressed to you, follow up with your post office, either online, over the phone, or in person.

Remove your personal information from data brokers

This really is the most universal and long-term approach you can take. Keeping private information out of public databases isn’t the be-all and end-all of protecting your privacy, but it’s the most fundamental step you can take.

A data removal service like Incogni will remove your personal info from dozens of data brokers’ databases at a time, and scores overall. A good data removal service will also repeat the process several times a year to make sure your data stays out of these databases—many data brokers will re-add you even after you’ve successfully opted out.

Keep your most sensitive information private

Store documents that contain critical information like your Social Security number like you would store cash or jewelry—under lock and key. Because, in the right—or wrong—hands, these documents are as good as cash, and a lot of it at that.

Remember that many of your digital accounts can also be directly linked to your home address. Set unique passwords for all your accounts and consider using a password manager like NordPass or Bitwarden to generate and keep track of them.

Keep an eye on your accounts and credit reports

Forewarned is forearmed, so keep your finger on the pulse of your accounts, especially your bank statements and credit reports. You can request a free credit report once a year from any of the major credit bureaus: make use of these credit reports to check for suspicious activity like new lines of credit you didn’t open.

What you should do if you fear it’s too late

If you have reason to believe all this good advice comes too late and you’ve already had your identity stolen, go to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft portal and follow the onboarding process there to start working on your recovery plan.

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