Recently our office has received identity theft complaints from victims with a story we haven't heard before. Their name and address was used in correlation with a work at home scam.

In these scams, the "company" -- typically overseas -- needs an agent here in the US to receive payments from clients who then wire the money back out of the country. This is very similar to an overpayment scam. In this case, the return address on the packaging mailed was that of our new Missouri victim. In other words it appears as though he or she actually mailed the package and is apart of the scam.

In the end, there will be two victims, the one that cashes the check and the one whose information was used in correlation with mailing the check. So what can you do if you have been alerted your name and address was used in this manner?

First contact your local police department to file a report. They may not be able to investigate due to jurisdictional issues, but at least you have taken the time to document the incident.

Second, you can contact the US Postal Inspector -- if the package came through regular mail -- or the fraud department of the private company, such as UPS or FedEx.

Next file a complaint with our office. The more information we have about these cases, the better our chances of finding a common link.