Stay Secure from Identity Thefts

Almost one out four have already been a victim of Identity Fraud of Theft. But, there’s still an attitude that somehow it doesn’t happen to me. But, what if you are the victim?. All across India, the fastest-growing white-collar crime in the nation has been raising year on year and it’s after-effects can be devastating. Let’s understand what is Identity Fraud and Identity Theft?.

Identity fraud is that the use by one person of another person’s personal information, without authorisation, to commit a criminal offence or to deceive or defraud that other person or a 3rd person. Most identity fraud is committed within the context of economic advantages, like accessing a victim’s card, bank, or loan accounts. Bogus documents are used in criminal activity (such as gain access to secure areas) or in official dealings, like immigration.

Identity theft is the deliberate use of someone else’s identity, usually as a technique to realise a financial advantage or obtain credit and other benefits within the other person’s name. The definition of fraud has been statutorily defined as the theft of personally identifiable information, generally including a human name, date of birth, social insurance number, passport, license number, checking account or card numbers, pin’s, electronic signatures, fingerprints, passwords, or the other information that may be accustomed access financial resources.

Criminal Fraud: An individual illegally impersonates himself as police, this amounts to what’s called as criminal identity fraud.
Identity Cloning fraud: When an individual impersonates himself as another individual so as to hide in order to conceal his identity from others is called cloning fraud.
Financial Fraud: Most common identity fraud in India that occurs where an individual tries to gain economic gain in others name.
Synthetic Fraud: Most common identity theft in India especially the foreign nationals, their identities are completely or partially fabricated to create a completely new identity.
Tax Frauds: When someone gains another person’s information and uses that to receive a tax refund, this amounts to Tax Identity Fraud and this happens mostly in the western countries.
Phone or utility fraud: Using another person’s personal information to open a cell phone or utility account
Government benefits fraud: Using someone else’s personal information to obtain government benefits like pension, farmer or widow benefits.
Fake Surveys/ Lottery: Scammers offer prizes or rewards such as gift cards to well-known establishments in return for completing an online survey. The survey requires you to answer a range of questions including disclosure of important identification and banking details.

Contact banker, credit card, or the respective organization and explain what has occurred.
Freeze on your credit cards and bank accounts with immediate effect for some time.
Update all passwords for your email accounts, social media accounts that were affected.
Finally complain to Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at www.cybercrime.gov.in

Don’t communicate to, or accept friend requests from, strangers on social media platforms and messaging platforms.
Limit the posting of private information on social media and on blogging sites.
Understand how privacy settings work on social media platforms and only let your friends and family have access to your profiles, posts, photos and videos.
Make sure you have a strong password (not your surnames, mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, birthday or address) for e-mail, social networking and gaming accounts.
Enable Two Factor Authentication (2FA) for all social media and email logins that you use.
Keep a separate e-mail ID for bank and credit card purposes.
Periodically check Bank, Credit Card, and CIBIL Statements.