Likewise, with e-mail versus snail mail. “I’ve never seen a spouse chastised for opening another spouse’s mail. No judge is going to be concerned,” he says.

He adds the legal protections for files on a company-owned laptop brought home for work are greater since the company potentially could sue a spouse for stealing confidential information and could conceivably file criminal charges.

The Norman Rockwell idea of family togetherness notwithstanding, the dangers of ID theft by family members aren’t hypothetical.

It was a very real cost of considerable time and money for Eastern Illinois University Assistant Professor of Consumer Studies Axton Betz-Hamilton, her grandfather and her dad. Her mother stole their IDs to set up credit cards and commit tax evasion.

“We didn’t find out until after she died,” the professor says.

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