Identity theft has existed since for a long time. It is not something new. But it has become more and more prevalent especially with the advent of technology as new ways to steal a person’s personal information have arisen. As of late, identity thieves have become increasingly craftier when it comes to stealing personal information.
Identity Fraud and How It Can Affect You
Identity theft and fraud is the act of stealing someone’s personal information and using those pieces of information to create fraudulent documents to use that same person’s resources (credit cards, bank accounts) or entire identity. Any instance of stealing information with the intent of using for personal gain can be constituted as identity theft. Even seemingly trivial pieces of information like your birthday or mother’s maiden name can be used since these are common questions for verification of identity.
There are numerous ways hackers can make us of the obtained information. Often, these entail making use of your entire identity to create fake passports or IDs for illegal entry or exit to or from a country, drug trafficking, smuggling, or to trick others into giving that person their money (popularized by confidence men, or “con men”). Perhaps the most common way is for use in financial fraud such as bank, rebate, benefit, telecommunications, and credit card fraud.
Once Identity thieves get a hold of your information, they can drain your bank account, obtain social services in your name, make purchases using your credit card, open utility accounts, or get medical treatment using your insurance.
Information Phishing
In the past, obtaining information entailed dumpster diving for old bills, bank statements, and even medical bills, or by deliberately stealing your mail. Although these are still used to this day, more ingenious ways have been developed and these entail the use of available technology.
Today, the most common way, and perhaps the easiest, to obtain a person’s information is through information phishing. Phishing is a cyber-attack carried out by making use of fake websites and e-mails to obtain the needed information without your knowledge. Often, these attacks come in the form of fake links that are disguised to appear legitimate and has become increasingly prevalent through the use of social media and e-mail platforms.
A very clever tricked used by phishers is by sending you e-mails that are made to look very similar or as perfect clones of legitimate banks that also contain pseudo-legitimate links. These e-mails often contain messages like “Your account has been compromised. Click on the link to verify the transaction” or “There appears to be a discrepancy in one of your transactions”. Once you click on those links, you are redirected to a perfect clone of the bank’s website and ask you to log-in to your account. After entering all the necessary information (log-in information, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.) they save these information and use them as they like.
Some e-mails have zip files or document files with embedded codes that contain malware and will infect your computer. As the malware is downloaded or installed, they steal your information using a script that was designed to catch information from your computer.
Protecting Yourself from Attacks
While some links may look like the real thing or some offers appear too enticing to not be true, they really aren’t and should be disregarded.
Several give-aways to spot phishing attempts include poor spelling and grammar, shortened or seemingly odd URLs, a strange or mismatched sender address, e-mails that seem too good to be true (e-mail from a CEO of a certain multinational company), messages that are too strange, or e-mail links that redirect you to forms that are in no way connected to the message.
Phishing and the stealing of information continue to evolve and more threats will continue to appear in order to get a hold of your information. You must always be vigilant and always be on the lookout for such attempts to protect your bank accounts, your credit cards, and your identity.