Identity theft is still considered the most prevalent white-collar crime in America. It also reigns as the leading scam in the Mid-South.

As baby-boomers get older, identity theft will only flex its muscles even more on the elderly. It leads my list of the most common scams targeting seniors in the Mid-South:

* ID THEFT.  These are the methods thieves are most commonly using to either steal seniors' financial identities or get into their accounts:

Who wouldn't want to get paid to go shopping or have a nice meal at a restaurant? You’ve seen the ads for "mystery shoppers" and "secret shoppers" that promise easy money, free meals and merchandise. One Memphis woman has learned the hard way that some offers that sound too good to be true often are just that.

Shefora Ollis-White was looking for mystery shopping opportunities online. It sounded like something she would enjoy – getting paid to shop and dine out and evaluate the service you received. So when she got a letter in the mail from EGroup Surveys in Pleasanton, CA, she thought she had found the perfect opportunity.

The letter said that she was being offered “an opportunity to participate in a survey by being a service evaluator.” In short, she would get paid to dine and shop. Along with the letter was a check for $1,300. The instructions in the letter told her to call to validate the funds before depositing them in her bank account.