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Identity_Theft_ _Dont_Blame_The_Web
| Identity Theft - Dont Blame The Web
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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