Identity theft Fraud

Identity Theft Fraud

  1) Introduction to Identity Theft

  Identity theft is stealing someone’s identity and pretends to be them usually to gain access to the victim benefits. This can be financial, social or even worse criminal.

  2) Identity theft occurrence

   According to privacy trust group the following are the statistics:

ID theft is the fastest growing crime n US(FBI)

1 in 5 people has now been a victim of identity theft.(FTC,FBI,Fraud invest, & javlinBB)

Total number of victims is now over 50 million individuals. This mean that 1 in 5 people in the US is now a victim of ID theft.

2 years ago 1 in 8 people was a victim(FTC), today 1 in 5 – individuals who was have never been victims of ID theft may soon be a minority.

85+ million people were victims of identity theft by 2018.(FTC)

15.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2018(Javlin/BBB)

The number of new victims annually over the past several years has been approximately 50 million.

The losses to victims have been, and continue to be, signature

Identity theft costs individuals business in money and product stolen, costs of recovery and fraud investigation, and opportunity costs.

      

3)Impact of Identity Theft Fraud

               *Financial Problems

                              An attacker may not just get access to the bank account and drain it off money, but also create a credit card and run up a bill, without your knowledge.

               *Credit issues

                             Once under financial duress, credit report also starts to suffer. The credit score goes down and then getting mortgages or losses become almost impossible.

               *Benefit losses

                              Stealing the identity gives the attacker to benefits that belong to victim, whether it’s related to its medical or other benefit.

               *Legal Problems

                              Given all these issues naturally there will be legal issues that a victim gets entangled in, getting maybe even arrested for crime they did not commit.

4)Types of identity theft

        *Stolen Wallet

                       A wallet by default carries all personal information related to a victim. Address, license, cards perhaps even photos of love ones; this is enough information for the attacker to gain access to victims life.  

        *Change of address

                       Attackers change the mailing address rerouting the mail to their own location. This sends all information into the wrong hands.

        *Mail Theft

                       As the name suggests, attackers steal mail right from the front door.

        *Online Shopping

                       Attackers may Duplicate online store fronts in order to steal and gain access to confidential information.

5)Dumpster

        Attackers or thieves search the dumpster for the documents that have been casually discarded to get access to information they need to commit fraud.

6)E-Mail Theft

        Attackers can hack into an email and either reroute the mail to themselves or worse close the account by changing the password. Any mail received during this blocked period is data for attacker.

7)Smashing

        Thieves send text massage to a mobile device that pretends to be a contact and then directs the victim to a dangerous website with the idea of stealing their identity.

8)Vishing

        Voice-calls to landlines or mobile phone are effective ways for attackers to get personal INFORMATION.

9) ATM Schemers/Hand-head skimmers

        Attackers swipe the credit card in middle of legitimate like paying bills.

10)Prevention Techniques

       According to US government site, which recognises identity theft frauds as a real and present danger, they have issued a checklist for preventing identity theft:

*Don’t carry your social security card in your checks. Only give out your SSN when absolutely necessary.

*Protect your PIN, Never write a PIN on paper or any other place.

*Watch out for “Shoulder surfers”. Use your free hands to shield the keypad when using pay or Using ATM.

*Pay attention to your billing cycle.

*Store your personal information on safe place at home and work place.

*Install firewall and virus detection software on your home computer.

*Check your credit report twice a year.

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