What is the term for stealing personal information about you and using it while pretending to be you?

• A. Impersonation
• B. Phishing
• C. Identity theft
• D. Data breach

Answer: (C)

Identity theft is the act of taking your personal information and using it to pretend to be you, usually to commit fraud. The key idea is that the thief not only steals data like your name, Social Security number, or account details, but then uses that information to act as you—opening accounts, making purchases, or accessing services in your name. That combination of obtaining your data and using it to impersonate you is what makes identity theft the best description of this scenario.

Impersonation by itself is just pretending to be someone, which can happen in many contexts, but identity theft specifically involves illicitly acquiring your personal data to carry out that impersonation. Phishing is a method that might be used to obtain the data, and a data breach is an event where data is exposed; neither by itself captures the full act of stealing data to impersonate you.