Identity Theft and You

Image taken from mediabistro.com



It is true that I have not written here in a while. This is partly due to the fact that my studies have begun to take priority over my blog sites, and I have not had the time to sit down and write a good quality article. The other reason is because there hasn't really been much motivation from my end to continue raising awareness of cyber bully prevention. That is, of course, until a recent incident that happened a little over a month ago drove me to start writing about this issue again. I would have posted this entry sooner, had I had the time to get my thoughts together. I always try to research my chosen topics thoroughly, and always like to take the time to think about what I am writing, because what I share on this site is meant to be for your help and benefit.

The topic I wish to discuss is identify theft. While this type of cyber crime cannot really be defined as a type of cyber bullying, both types of cyber crimes deal with the notion of power and the drive to take another person's power away from them. While cyber bullies attempt to rob their victims of their power of self-worth, online frauds use their victims' personal information to rob them of their power of identity. Like cyber bullying, identity theft is a crime, and it is a matter which is to be taken seriously.

What is Identify Theft?

A little over a month ago, a very good friend of mine had his online identity stolen from him. A young man whom he met online and with whom he became friends with on Facebook wanted to introduce him to a fun new game application he was offering. All my friend needed to do was to give this man his log in and password, so that he could activate the application for him. Believing that he would get to use this new game application, my friend gave those private details over to this young man. Before long, this man used the information to hack into my friend's account, and started doing things that my friend did not give him permission to do. His password was changed on him, making him unable to access his account and repair the damage this man had caused. Furthermore, the information was used to hack into another social website my friend was involved in, and the password was changed in similar fashion, so that he could no longer access this account either. Together with his mother, my friend made a rush effort to contact everybody who he was friends with and let them know of the situation, and asked us to remove ourselves from his friend list and block both accounts. This was done promptly, and I informed my friend and his mother that I had made sure the Facebook administration team knew what had happened. Within a few hours, this man's account was deleted, along with the hacked account. My friend had to create a new Facebook account and start re-building his online identity again.

The case of my friend is a good example that describes what identity theft is. Identity theft involves stealing another person's identity, in order to gain benefits from that stolen identity (Scamwatch). Usually, these benefits are of a monetary nature e.g. credit card and tax scams, fraudulent charity donations, applications for bank loans, government benefits, etc (Consumer Fraud Reporting, Crimes-of-persuasion.com, Scamwatch), but in the case of my friend, the benefits could just be the “thrill” of managing to lure an unsuspecting victim into a false sense of security and robbing them of what is important to them. In the United States, identity theft is reported to be “the fastest growing crime in the country” (Williams, 2010). With the increasing amount of identity theft cases (Crimes-of-persuasion.com). Many world governments and website managers are thinking of ways of how to best combat against and protect internet users from this problem. While identity theft is not committed exclusively online, this article will only deal with this issue from an online perspective.

How do I recognise if someone is trying to commit identity theft?

The most common method for online frauds to steal your identity is through phishing scams, such as the one in the illustration in Jerri Ledford's article, Recognize Identity Theft Scams (2010). Here, Ledford takes you through a step by step tutorial of specific things to look for in a phish email. As a rule, I personally do not open up any email from any person or organisation that I do not recognise. Yet, reading Ledford's article reminds me of a time when I received an email from my local bank, which had similar details to the example Ledford gives us. Thank goodness I knew that my bank does not send emails requesting for verification of bank details, otherwise I would have thought this email had actually come from my bank! Other phishing scams I have seen in my inbox include donation charities that I have never heard of, and a woman from Nigeria wishing to give me her inheritance when she passes away (I have since found out that the latter scam is a common one that people have used for quite a few years now, as you can read about here. ) (Kayne, 2010)

What steps can I take to prevent identity theft from happening to me?

Rachelle Williams gives us some useful tips on how to best prevent identity theft from happening to you ('How to Prevent Identity Theft Online', 2010):

* Use extreme caution on File Sharing Sites – this would include websites such as Facebook, MySpace, or any other social website that requires you to share personal information in order to join up (Lovett, 2008 and Williams, 2010).

* Properly disconnect your computer from a Broadband connection – While I personally think that is taking things to the extreme (I would never take such precautions myself), it is indeed sensible advice.

* Be aware of common phishing scams – new ones are being dreamed up all the time, and I have found that the internet is rich with information on the types of new scams that are coming out.

* Be cautious when sending emails – Williams warns us about sharing sensitive information in an email, as they can be intercepted by online scammers ('How to Prevent Identity Theft Online,' 2010).

* Use security software and keep it updated – Again, very sensible advice, which I actually DO take. It is a valuable tool in helping to detect what viruses are trying to get into your computer, as well as reducing the risk of someone hacking into your computer and stealing your information.

What do I do if I have discovered my account has been hacked into?

If you have become a victim of an identity theft scam that involves money, the Consumer Fraud Reporting website gives three basic steps on what you can do to counteract the situation (2010). With cases such as the one my friend was involved in, the appropriate actions to take would be to firstly, let your friends know of the situation and secondly, contact the administration team or help desk IMMEDIATELY, so that the scammer cannot cause any further damage - to you or to anyone else. Most government agencies have hotline numbers which you can call to report cases of identity theft, such as this one that the U.S. Government has organised.

In any case, IMMEDIATE action is the key to fixing the problem, if you believe you have become a victim of identity theft.


After my friend's account was hacked into and his online identity taken over, he was naturally devastated. After seeing what steps he should have taken to better protect himself, he was able to take this as a learning experience, and knows better now than to give out his personal information freely online. I hope this article has been beneficial to you, in that you have become better well-informed as to what identity theft is and that you now know what steps you can take to avoid having this ever happening to you.

Reference List:

Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009. Web. May 2010.
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/index.php

Crimes of Persuasion, 2000. Web. May 2010.
http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Telemarketing/Inbound/MajorIn/id_theft.htm

Kayne, R. What Is a Phishing Scam? Wisegeek.com. Web. 18 July 2010.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-phishing-scam.htm

Ledford, Jerry. Recognize Identity Theft Scams – Spotting a Phishing Email. About.com. Web. May 2010. http://idtheft.about.com/od/preventionpractices/ss/phishing_scams.htm

Lovette, Guillaume. Online Identity Theft: Who's after my Facebook Password? SC Magazine. Web. 18 July 2010. http://www.scmagazineus.com/online-identity-theft-whos-after-my-facebook-password/article/109242/http://www.scmagazineus.com/online-identity-theft-whos-after-my-facebook-password/article/109242/

Scamwatch, 2008. Web. May 2010. http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/identitytheft

Williams, Rachelle. How to Prevent Identity Theft Online: Five Tips for Preventing ID Theft While Surfing the Web. Suite101.com. Web. May 2010
http://peacesecurity.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_prevent_identity_theft_online