How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft?

First, you need to find out what identity theft is. This concept means that the attacker steals personal information for personal financial gain. It does not matter whether the person whose data is being stolen is alive or dead.

What data are scammers stealing?

So, the development of technology is fraught with not only advantages but also dangers. The most common form of fraud is identity theft. Most apps and companies encrypt sensitive information. However, what information are scammers interested in? This is primarily a phone number, insurance number, electronic signature, and credit card information. Let’s take a closer look at what types of identity theft can be.

1️⃣ Theft of medical data. The fraudster in such cases pretends to be another person to receive free (for himself) medical care. Medicine is the second area in terms of the number of data leaks, so this is quite serious.

2️⃣ Identity theft of a taxpayer. In this case, the scammer obtains your data to use when filling out a tax return. This includes various pin codes, passwords and user IDs, etc. This method is especially popular for getting cashback. However, it is not you who will receive it, but, accordingly, the attacker who used your data.

3️⃣ Theft of insurance data. The social security number, along with credit card pins and other information, can also be used by scammers. For example, an attacker can open a bank account using your details.

4️⃣ Identity theft of a child. Fraudsters even use your children’s data to file tax returns, open bank accounts and other illegal transactions. Unfortunately, we often find out about identity theft too late, when the scammers have already done their dirty work.

5️⃣ Criminal identity theft. As the name suggests, this type of theft is associated with crime. They steal photos, IDs, insurance numbers, bank account numbers, etc. For what? This is a kind of guarantee that their criminal activity will be attributed to the person whose data they used.

6️⃣ Identity theft of deceased people. Yes, scammers do this. They usually do this when they know the person’s death has not yet been documented. So they, for example, open bank accounts in the names of dead people.

7️⃣ Synthetic identity theft. This type of theft is especially popular in the US. What it is? This is a case where a scammer combines real and fake information. Where do they get this information from? From classical sources: data from children, smart people, just random victims of deception. As a rule, attackers choose people with a good reputation, who can certainly take loans (or already have them), and enjoy the trust of banks and other authorities.

Known cases of identity theft

In 2020, hackers hacked into the accounts of many celebrities and famous personalities. What did the scammers do after that? First, they published posts and tweets on behalf of these people to search for bitcoins. So, hackers managed to crack almost 130 high-ranking accounts. For example, profiles of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kanye West and even Elon Musk. But the most surprising thing is that the hacker turned out to be a 17-year-old guy from Florida, who thus received more than $ 100,000 from his victims.

Over the past couple of years, hackers have been able to sell many (about 500,000) Zoom passwords on the dark web. After that, the scammers verified the stolen passwords and usernames, finding matches. Thus, the personal data of many people were at risk. This was acknowledged by the CEO of Zoom. He publicly responded to the accusations that began to come from users. He also pointed out that this incident hit the company’s reputation hard. Another well-known case is from the field of medicine. It happened in 2021. Hackers used malware to attack the medical files of a major American medical company. What information was stolen? These are, first of all, insurance numbers, dates of birth, diagnoses, names and addresses of users.

How to protect yourself from identity theft?

An important question: how to prevent identity theft? Here are some helpful tips on how to do this.

1️⃣ Freeze credit account. This means that you will need to contact your bank or credit bureau directly to freeze your account. Of course, this process can be reversed. However, in case of risk, you can thus protect yourself from data theft. In addition, you will be able to make sure that no one, except the real owner of the account, will be able to open it again because for this you will need to provide unique information. Only the real owner of the bank account has it.

2️⃣ Create different passwords and pin codes for accounts. For convenience, many people create one password for all accounts at once. Of course, from the point of view of memory, this is convenient. But this is risky from a cybersecurity point of view. If you have different pin codes and passwords for different accounts, this increases the security of your data. The ideal password should contain at least 15 characters. This will make it harder for scammers to access your account.

3️⃣ Use of multi-factor verification. Two-factor authentication, which you can set up when you sign in to your social media, for example, gives your data extra security. This will help if the scammer managed to crack your password. For multi-factor verification, you can use biometric identification or an additional password. This method of data protection is popular not only for social media but also for bank accounts.

4️⃣ Regular checking of statements on credit cards and bank accounts. This method will help you quickly see if someone has been doing irregular activities with your bank card. If you notice strange activity on your bank account, you should report it first to your bank service, and then to the police.

5️⃣ Full destruction of unnecessary documents with personal information. Do not just throw unnecessary papers in the trash. After all, scammers can easily get to your data in this case. If you no longer need any documents, burn them or try to destroy them in some other way. When you use a paper shredder, for greater safety, separate the shredded paper into three or four piles and throw them in separate, remote trash cans. If a data leak does occur, then the first step is to contact the identity theft protection service. These services not only prevent other data breaches but also alert you to potential dangers.

Thus, we can conclude that every person can fall into the trap of a scammer. As we can see, even public and famous personalities are not immune from this. Let’s summarize the mandatory steps you should take if a data breach occurs:
1️⃣ apply to the police;
2️⃣ block all your accounts.

Summary:

#onlinesecurity #identity theft