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| Identity Theft |
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What is Identity theft?
Imagine you waking up one day and realizing that all your important personal and financial information has been compromised and it is in the hands of unscrupulous elements. All the information that signifies your very existence is being misused.
What we are talking about here is your “IDENTITY”.
If you loose your identity, you stand a chance of loosing everything that you’ve built so far in your life like:
- Your name
- Your bank accounts
- Your credit cards
- Your Social Security Number
- Your personal information (like your email IDs)
What’s worse is that you could lose all this without you even knowing that you lost it and by the time you realize, it is too late to make amends and you’re probably bankrupt. This is exactly what happens when you disclose your personal details at unknown sources on the Internet. You are opening a Pandora’s Box and there is no looking back. |
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What can someone do by using your Identity?
To answer that put your self in the criminal’s shoes for a minute. What would you do if you had all the personal and financial information of somebody? You could wreck havoc and there’s no John McClane coming to the rescue as in Die Hard Movie. So what exactly can someone do with your identity? Well for starters they can make you go bankrupt. Here are some of the other things that can happen. They can
- Impersonate you
- Obtain loans, funds, credit cards using your personal details
- Acquire Social Security Number or Driver’s License
- Acquire fake passports (which if in the hands of terrorist can be a national threat)
- Perform other crimes for which you would be held responsible
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What information do fraudsters need to perform Identity theft?
Unfortunately most of the information that they need for ID theft is documents that we usually are not very protective about like: Your name and address combined with
- Utility bills and credit card statements
- Bank account documents
- Bank statements
- ATM transaction slips
- Your birth certificates
- SocialSecurity Number
- Driver’s License Number
There are two types of identity frauds that can be done to cards:
- Application fraud - A criminal uses your personal details to apply for and obtain a card or any kind of a bank product (for example, a loan).
- Account take-over - A criminal uses key personal information to totally takeover and start operating your account.
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How can you protect your Identity?
The best approach to prevent yourself from being a victim of ID theft is to be cautious when it comes to letting out your personal and financial information. All have your antennas switched on. Following are some of the tips to help keep your identity safe:
- Never disclose personal information to anyone you do not trust.
- Do not provide your information until and unless you are sure about the caller. Fraudsters setup fake call centers using VOIP; this is known as “Vishing”. If in case of doubt you call the bank directly using the bank phone number listed on the bank website.
- Remember that banks always ask for specific characters like last 4 digits of your card or SSN not your entire card number or SSN for verification.
- Ensure that your personal documents are always secure. Your personal documents include your birth certificate, bank account details, passport, credit cards, driving license, SSN, card receipts, financial statements and even utility bills.
- Periodically peruse your bank statements to check for any transactions that have occurred without your knowledge.
- Dispose of financial statements, card receipts and other personal documents with utmost care. Tear or cut into pieces any such documents before trashing them.
- Keep the authorities informed if you have lost any personal item. For example, report a stolen credit card.
- Raise an alarm if you receive a telephone call or letter saying you have been approved or denied credit for accounts you know nothing about, or you receive a credit card statement for an account that you never opened.
- While paying by credit card, never let it out of your sight. Raise an alarm if the card is being swiped more than required, or if it is being scanned.
- In case of a change in address, ensure to notify the correct address to all recipients who send you statements to your address.
- Check that the Internet connection you are using is secure. Look for the lock at the bottom or https (an‘s’ appended to ‘http’) in the address field of your browser. These indicate that the connection is a secure one
- Make sure that you have automatic updates / firewall turned on and regularly download the security patches if you are a windows user.
All said and done, even after taking all the precautions in case there was a slight slip from your end and you’ve mistakenly disclosed your personal details then, to re-trace your steps you can approach the following methods:
- If you have given out bank related information, inform bank authorities to watch out for transactions and change all the related passwords to gain control over your bank account.
- If your driving license or any cards are stolen, then, contact the agencies that issued the documents and follow their procedures to cancel a document and get a replacement. Ask the agency to “flag” your file to keep anyone else from getting a license or another identification document in your name.
- Keep an eye on your regular statements or bills that you receive. A missing bill or statement could mean that the fraudster is making use of your personal information.
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Sharing and Caring
The power of knowledge can defeat any fraud! If you know what is happening to you or people around you, you can surely combat it.
Online guards strongly emphasize that phishing and other Internet related scams can be put to bed by educating the end-user and passing the information to your near and dear ones. If you care for your friends and family members’ security, please do share this information to increase public awareness. Let's make Internet a happier place to visit. |
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