Credit card fraud and identity theft involve the unauthorized use of your information, but they are not the same. Credit card fraud occurs when unauthorized charges are made using your credit card information. Some ways thieves can obtain credit card numbers include data breaches, stealing your physical card and skimming your card. Identity theft differs in that it goes beyond only stealing your credit card number. With identity theft, someone has assumed your identity by stealing your personal information, such as your name, address, date of birth and Social Security number to fraudulently open accounts in your name. The good news with identity theft and credit card fraud is that federal laws protect you from liability should you be victimized. While there’s no way to guarantee that your identity won’t be stolen, there are many identity theft protection services to help you monitor your personal information and you provide alerts to help prevent you from falling prey to scams and malicious websites.
https://www.cnbc.com/select/credit-card-fraud-vs-identity-theft/