Once, twice, more than five times an identity crime victim, Bowen
The unique thing about identity crime is this: once you have lost your details the first time, you are then a very strong chance of being victimised repeatedly… Over and over… And then some more.
A resident of Bowen received an unexpected letter from a debt collection agency regarding a $2000 plus debt which had been incurred against their name linked to a mobile phone contract. The debt had not been incurred by the Bowen resident.
This particular resident had some experience in being victimised through identify crime after having debts accrued against their name on no fewer than five occasions in the prior eight months by a criminal. Not to mention a suspected hack of their social media account.
Once your identity particulars are found and stolen they are commonly either used repeatedly by the same criminal for their own benefit, or they will on-sell your details to another criminal for their use.
And so on and so on.
This is why we should take all necessary steps to protect our information now – don’t wait until the horse has bolted.
Here are some tips for ensuring you remain the only version of you:
- Social media forums often provide you with security settings – please use them
- On the topic of social media – understand that identity thieves refer to these forums as low hanging fruit. It is a place they can often go to find full names, dates of birth, employment information, etc etc. Share your personal information through social media sparingly – don’t overshare.
- Telephone scams, email phishing campaigns, mobile phone SMS-ishing (pronounced Smishing) campaigns are often all designed to capture a certain amount of personal identification information.
When it comes to identity crime – prevention is so much more important than the cure. Just ask any one who is constantly dealing with being victimised by it.
If you have been targeted by an identity thief… don’t give them a free shot. Report it through ACORN.
Source: Mackay Crime Alert
