The bills would be sent to an apartment rented just for this purpose. The couple would quickly exhaust the credit lines, and then move on. A few months later, the real person would receive nasty telephone calls inquiring as to why he was not paying his bills. The information an identity thief needs to take over your identity is relatively little. The identity thief needs your name, birthdate, Social Security number, address, telephone number, and your drivers license number.
Information is available from other sources as well.
Most state motor vehicle departments sell driver record information to anyone who wishes to purchase it. A few states even sell their entire driver database on CD-ROM, which is very convenient for the identity thief. A new type of company, known as an information broker, can access all sorts of databases to create a file on almost anyone. These services contract with credit bureaus, state motor vehicle departments, check verification services and local county record providers. Identity thieves are no doubt one of their biggest customers.