Of all the crimes that can be committed against you online nothing is more damaging than identity theft. You don’t only become a victim, in the worst case scenario you can become a suspect. 

What is Identity Theft? 

Identity theft is when someone assumes your identity, pretending to be you in order to get credit and other benefits in your name. They can also use your identity to get ID or credit card numbers and bank account numbers. 

In other cases thieves who successfully stole identities used them to commit fraud, crime and even make illegal transactions. 

Identity theft can be committed using both low-tech and hi-tech means. 

Low-Tech Identity Theft 

In low-tech identity theft the perpetrators get your personal information via the trash you leave out in the dumpster, your ATM pin just by looking over your shoulder and even your spending habits by checking what’s in your mailbox. 

They can also call you up by phone pretending to be someone from your bank, asking about your bank account number or other information. 

Hi-Tech Identity Theft 

The most common method of hi-tech identity theft usually involves: 

Smishing – This is when they send SMS to you pretending to be someone from your bank or any company you deal with and asking you for personal or financial information. 

Phishing – Also called "spoofing," phishing involves the use of spam emails to fool consumers into revealing personal and financial information. 

These seemingly legitimate emails request information, often asking you to verify or re-confirm confidential passwords, account numbers, social security numbers, and other sensitive information. 

Those who perpetrate phishing go to such lengths as to try get the email to look like it was sent by companies that you are familiar with and deal with on a regular basis. 

Spear Phishing – This is just like Phishing, only that it’s more elaborate and sophisticated since the email is designed to bypass filters and firewalls. 

Pharming – Also called site cloning, this is when fraudsters go as far as to create a website to mimic the ones that you are used to and deal with in order to steal personal, financial and sensitive information. They also send emails that direct you to this fraudulent website. 

How to Prevent Online Identity Theft 

Don’t Give Too Much Information Away on Social Media – Social media is a great place to share information. Just be reminded that personal, financial and bank account information isn’t the type of info that should be shared online. 

Use Strong Passwords for Your Websites – Use passwords that are hard to figure out. Stay away from your birthday numbers. You might be tempted to use one password for all of websites for easy recall, but remember if one fraudster is able to hack your password he can get into all the sites you deal with, in your identity. 

Don’t Respond to Suspicious Emails – If the email doesn’t seem to be from a company you deal with, delete it immediately. 

Upgrade Your Anti-virus – Phishing email gets through because they take advantage of loopholes in your AV or firewalls. You should also know that malware designers also keep up with the latest updates, so the more updated your AV is the more phishing emails are blocked.

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