Criminals can steal the personal information of others in order to impersonate them for a number of reasons, and this is also known as identity theft or identity fraud.  There are many different ways a stolen identity can be used, and some of these can be very harmful to their victims.

Criminal Charges
Impersonating another person whilst being charged for a crime is a very serious issue, as all of the charges will then be recorded in an innocent person’s name.  This can have devastating effects for the victim of this type of impersonation fraud, meaning that they could in effect have a criminal record until the matter has been resolved, which could prevent them from applying for jobs, lose them their current job and even see them arrested under a live warrant and detained by law enforcement agents.  It can be very difficult resolving criminal charges recorded falsely in another person name and it can take a lot of time to go through all of the legal red tape to clear your name, and cost a lot of money in legal fees.

Credit Fraud
Criminals can steal enough information about you so that they can impersonate you in order to access your existing credit accounts, or to set up new credit accounts fraudulently in your name.  It can be difficult and time consuming to resolve cases of credit fraud, as in many cases you will not discover the fraud has taken place until the damage has been done, and then you will need to spend a great deal of time and money trying to prove your identity was misused, and gain reimbursement for any charges or debts run up falsely in your name.