Identity Theft: How It Happens?

Identity theft and identity fraud count amongst the most heinous, notorious and leading crimes of modern times. The terms are used in common parlance to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain or getting other benefits. The person whose identity is used can suffer various consequences, apart from suffering economic and other losses, viz. he can be held responsible for the perpetrator’s actions.

Most of us do not realize how easily criminals can obtain our personal data without even having to break into the four walls of our homes. The means are endless; eavesdropping on public transactions called shoulder surfing, stealing information on computer databases (Trojan Horses, hacking), stealing mail or rummaging through rubbish containing personal information (dumpster diving), and infiltration of organization databases and social networking sites, are only a handful of them.

One of the easiest and easy to ignore ways is shoulder surfing, where you’re being watched over by someone as you punch in your credit card number or your telephone calling number. You may also be eavesdropped by the culprit as you give away your credit card number to some third party for that hotel or car rent.

When you throw away your credit bills or money transaction receipts outside your bank or ATM centre carelessly, you don’t realize that you may be inviting trouble. A mode of stealing identities called dumpster diving, here the persons concerned would scan the garbage cans or trash bins to obtain copies of your bank statements, checks, credit card transactions or other records which may give away your particulars, viz. name, address, or your telephone number. The identities disguised by the means of dumpster diving or shoulder surfing, won’t ever have an inkling about how the third party obtained their personal information, unless the culprits confess their crime, so these are highly malicious means.

When you open a mail containing a “preapproved” credit card and you simply choose to discard it, without tampering it, it can be easily retrieved by the third party on a later date and be subsequently activated to be used no end without your even knowing about the same. These people can also intercept any package containing a valid credit card issued against your name while the package is on its way to your address and use it generously before the same comes to your notice. So, any unnecessary delay in receiving an approved credit card, should warrant suspicion from you and direct you to interrogate the issuing credit card company thoroughly.

Internet is one place where an enormous amount of identity thefts take place. One of the commonest ways is through advertising bogus job offers and sending spam mails that lure victim to believe that you’ve won an enormous sum of money or some attractive gift hamper or heir to some unclaimed property and in return all you need to do is send your identifying data that may be your password or banking information. Once you respond to these, you may keep perpetually waiting for the free gifts or the sum of money that you’ve supposedly won but it never arrives at your doorstep. What does instead is the shock that you’ve been duped completely and lost out on your hard earned bank savings.

In recent times, a large number of professionals have been charge sheeted and a whole lot of other unresolved cases have come to light wherein, there has been a leak of valuable personal information from organization databases. Most of theses instances have been from the BPOs which maintain a record of the various clients and due to the folly and greed of some of the working professionals who at times without even realizing the consequences of their action have divulged the information to some third party for peanuts.