Identity Theft

Identity Theft

List some of the methods of identity theft in the short videos

·       Dumpster diving: popular form of modern salvaging of waste discarded in bins, if you take a bill out to the bin and don’t shred it first these people can come into your bin and take out that information and keep them for themselves.

·       Skimming: people taking your bank details by getting your information from a dodgy ATM, they have access to your account and can transfer money for themselves and use the money straight out of your account.

·       Phishing: the practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers, online.*

·       Stealing wallets, phones, bags etc.: this is the more classical way of stealing from people, this is targeted at the elderly because they are fragile and can’t do much against you. They can come up behind you and steal your phone from your back pocket, they can also steal your bag from right underneath you if you sit down for a second or two. The bag has your wallet with all your personal details.  

Research other unscrupulous methods for attempting to steal ones identity or cleverly disguise phishing

·       Phishers impersonate your banks website and send you an email about how the bank needs a deposit from you and how you need to send them a large deposit and send them all your credit card details. They hide it well because they use the banks email and phone number etc. A way you can check if the email is fake is if they have spelling mistake and call you a valued customer, they say this because they don’t know your name but want to sound like the bank. In a real bank email, they will call you by your name. E.g. they could start the email with ‘Deer Valued Customer’. In this sentence there is a spelling mistake that phishers commonly make and they have used the words ‘valued customer’. You can go to a direct websites to see if the people emailing you are phishers or a trusted bank, company etc.

Have you ever received a spam text message?

·       Yes, I have received a spam message from companies and people that I don’t know and have no relation to. One of them is that they wanted my name because I would contribute for the longest text message for the Guinness Book of World Records, another is when they say, if you don’t send this text message to 10 of your closest friends in the next 15 minutes, something bad will happen to you or if you do send it something good will happen to you. They bribe you and intimidate you to thinking these things will happen to you, trying to get your information.

Come up with a list of the harmful things that could occur if your identity is stolen

·       Some things that could happen to you while being scammed etc. is that you could lose your house, large amounts of money, bank details, social media details, you cannot get a job because of ‘past history’, get your passport taken off you etc.

Come up with a list of behaviours to deter thieves from stealing your identity

·       **Some things that you can do that will help prevent scammers getting your details is to never give your personal details to people you don’t know, check your bank statements, review your credit report, only carry essential information, secure your email and protect your phone.

·       Some computer and mobile protection can be to keep your phone safe, always type the website address into your browser before giving the website money or information, disable pop-ups on your browser, install up to date anti-virus software, log out of social media and bank websites and email accounts when you’re not using them, only download apps from the official app store or market, enable security settings on your phone, never use public computers for banking or payments.

·       Some things to do if you have had your identity stolen is to report it immediately to the police, contact your bank or financial institution, inform the relevant government agency or business, get a copy of your credit report and get help from iDcare. iDcare is a free government industry service which works with you to develop specific response plans to reduce the risk and impact of identity fraud.** There are many more ways to keep your information safe, these are the ones that I liked and thought I should let people know about.

*retained from google

**retained from moneysmart.gov.au, moneysmart.gov.au

iDcare URL Link: http://www.idcare.org/

I hope this post helped you realise the cons about Identity Theft and gave you some insight into how Identity Theft can ruin your life

Thankyou for reading my blog, see you in the next one

Xx Izzi