Identity theft ? also known as ID theft, identity fraud and ID
fraud ? describes a type of fraud where a criminal adopts
someone else?s identity in order to profit illegally. It is one
of the fastest growing forms of fraud in many developed
countries. In the UK identity theft is increasing at the rate of
500% each year and, according to Which Magazine, 25% of the
population have either suffered from identity theft or know
someone who has. In the USA, a report issued by the Better
Business Bureau revealed that, in 2004, over 9 million Americans
became victims of identity theft with the total sum defrauded
being $52.6 billion. With figures like this, it?s no surprise
that there is a certain amount of concern regarding computer and
internet security. After all, the internet is basically a
mechanism for exchanging information and the possibility that
some of the information exchanged may be more than intended is
never far from many internet user?s minds. It?s easy to imagine
criminal masterminds worldwide using the internet to hack into
computers in order to gain access to information with which to
advance their devilishly cunning schemes. However, as revealed
in the report, the facts of the matter are a little more down to
earth and the internet, far from making you more at risk to
identity theft, can help to significantly cut your losses if you
do fall victim this form of fraud. According to the Better
Business Bureau?s research the main methods by which criminals
gain access to information used for identity theft fraud are as
below: Lost or stolen wallet, chequebook or credit card. 28.8%
Accessed as part of a transaction. 12.9%* Accessed by friend,
acquaintance or relative. 11.4% Don't know, refused, no answer.
11.1% Information accessed by corrupt employee. 8.7% Stolen
paper mail or fraudulent change of address. 8.0% Obtained some
other way. 7.4% Computer spyware. 5.2% Information stolen from
garbage. 2.6% Computer viruses and/or hackers. 2.2% Emails sent
by criminals posing as legitimate business. 1.7% * 12.9% due to
transactions ? 10.4% offline transactions, 2.5% online
transactions. In total, when the instances where information was
accessed during transactions are subdivided into online and
offline transactions, only 11.6% of the information used to
carry out identity theft fraud was obtained from computers. Of
this more than half was obtained by the use of spyware, viruses
or hacking ? the risk of which can be greatly reduced by
installing the appropriate protection software and ensuring that
this is kept up to date. Not only did the survey reveal that the
internet was not a major source of illegally obtained personal
information, but it was also found that those fraud victims who
checked their financial records using the internet, ATM machines
or other electronic methods suffered financial losses which
were, on average, 8 times lower than those of victims who used
traditional paper statements to monitor their accounts. This
very significant reduction was attributed to the rapid discovery
of the fraud due to ?real time? monitoring. Of course, that?s
not to say that you shouldn?t exercise caution when using the
internet or take care to protect the personal information which
you may have stored on your PC. However, as long as you install
suitable virus, firewall and spyware protection, and keep this
continually updated the internet can should be more of a help
than a hindrance when it comes to avoiding identity fraud.
About the author:
Hamish Hayward
Don't become a victim. Find out the facts
about identity theft.
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