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With identity theft and online fraud growing rapidly you need some protection. Here are some tips and advice on how to safeguard yourself against these cyber-crimes.
Earlier this year the BBC You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. which nailed the issues. It reported on figures from fraud prevention agency You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. which said the number of victims of identity theft rose by 31% to 32,058 in the first three months of 2015, compared to first three months of 2014.
Curiously the story said the Beeb had also learnt that criminals are increasingly using internet forums to buy and sell data. It’s curious in that dark web internet forums are the go-to-place for häçkers to trade identity details, and have been for quite some time.
That said, the story uncovers an identity theft fraud in which an 80-year-old woman has an account with fashion retailer H&M. It’s clearly a classic case of identity theft and arose from the theft of the woman’s passport.
Growing
There are different ways of measuring identity theft but in the final analysis it’s when somebody s†éáls identifying information that belongs to you and uses it to carry it out some form of deception, whether its financial fraud or using your email address to aim malware at someone else.
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. claiming that 600,000 people in the UK had their personal ID details stolen in 2014 and this information was being traded on the dark web with an average sale price of £19 for individual details. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. there were approximately 5.1million incidents of fraud in the past 12 months – and claims many more go unreported.
These stories tend to hit the mainstream press when fraud figures are released or a media outlet gets someone to dive into the You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. and pull up details of ID details for sale. But the fact is that identity theft is ongoing and pervasive. In America it has almost reached You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now..
How to protect yourself
It’s difficult to actually prevent identity theft but there are steps that you can take which will certainly reduce your chances of falling victim to crime.
- Monitor bank statements regularly
- Who has access to your personal information?
- Limit your social media posts
- Identifying secure websites
- Check that the URL begins with HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). It means your information is being encrypted, or changed into coding so that only the intended recipient can open and access it
- Look for a colour change in the address bar. If you’re using a web browser, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, it will let you know that a website is secure by displaying a lock to the left of the URL and/or highlighting the URL in green.
- Don’t give out personal information via email or on the phone
On the same note should you receive a call from someone claiming that they are from your bank, mobile phone provider, telephone company or any other organisation requesting any of your personal information, blow a raspberry and hang up the phone. The thing to remember is that no legitimate company is going to call you and ask for your personal details such as bank account number or passwords – they simply don’t operate like that.
- Protect your devices
- Shred your documents
- Monitor your credit reports
At the end of the day there is no guarantee that you won’t fall victim to identity theft, but if you take steps to minimise the chances, the odds do fall in your favour.
Important – digital identity protection
The stories referenced above both refer to the sale of identity information on the dark web. You may have heard of the dark web before and the take down of web sites such as You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. which sold a wide range of îllégâl drugs from class A narcotics like ****** and cocaine to pharmaceutical drugs usually only available on prescription and just about everything in between too.
However, the dark web is also notorious for the trade in personal ID information from wholesale stolen credit card number sales, to outfits that make cards along with logos and all the relevant information using stolen card details, to the sale of individual stolen credit cards. For some reason häçked PayPal accounts, along with instructions on how to wí†hdráw money, seem to be particularly popular.
The point is that a huge swathe of stolen identity information ends up on the dark web for sale. For criminals it’s the perfect location; it’s anonymous, relatively unpoliced, and populated by people who buy and sell a vast range of îllégâl goods.
