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Identity theft getting worse How to protect yourself
The statistics
According to technology research organisation The Gartner Group, "More than £1.6 million worth of card fraud occurs on UK plastic cards every day. A fraudulent transaction takes place every eight seconds".
BBC Money Program also reports that identity theft is the fastest growing white collar crime, increasing at 500% year on year since the year 2000.
Across Europe, Britons are more at risk of having their identities stolen than any other country. Three quarters of UK residents has been exposed to identity fraud, with almost a quarter of the population having been victims.
Distinction between Identity fraud and Identity theft
Identity theft happens when personal details such as a person’s name, date of birth, address, bank account details, work history, etc. are stolen and identity fraud is committed when those details are used to commit fraud.
In the UK, committing fraud itself is not yet considered a crime, although profiting from it is. Identity fraud has a direct impact on its victims’ finances, accumulating huge debts in their name and making it difficult to obtain loans, credit cards or a mortgage until everything is sorted, which can take a long time and require a lot of effort in setting records straight.
THE METHODS
For individuals, they design custom phishing and vishing scams intended to make the person reveal sensitive information to supposedly ‘authorised’ representatives of government and banking institutions.
Traditional methods includegrabbing your wallet or purse, going through the dustbin and sifting through billing statements and receipts and stealing post.
They can also make use of personal details you reveal on application forms and online social media sites to deceive call centres into releasing personal account information.
The level of sophistication of thieves who commit theft and fraud increases along with the methods they use.
Thieves can also orchestrate hacks of government and corporate databases and design networks of botnets and malicious software that can hijack computers without leaving a trace.
Here are just some of the ways fraudsters can cause damage to your finances and in some cases, reputation:
• Open bank accounts • Apply for credit cards, home and automobile loans and
government benefits• Order goods and services• Take control over your bank accounts and withdraw any
amount at will or transfer it to another account• Take out contracts with Internet, landline, mobile phone, cable
and satellite providers• Have you pay for power, water, gas and electric services you
didn’t use• Obtain genuine documents in your name such as a passport or
driving licence and use these for criminal activity
What is alarming is that as the methods used by thieves expand, so can the damage they do to a variety of accounts and services in your name.
In extreme methods, these criminals can use your identity to apply for jobs you wouldn’t even think of doing or deceive police to evade arrest.
Protect yourself
The simple things you do can go a long way to avoid a lot of hassle and financial loss. Do not throw away anything that contains your name, address and financial details without shredding it well.
Do not reveal your mother’s maiden name to just anyone. Avoid giving your personal and account details or passwords to unsolicited contact attempts via telephone and email from ‘representatives’ asking you to update your account information.
As a security measure, be aware that banks will never ask you to provide your PIN, full account information or password to representatives especially in remote transactions.
