Identity Theft Reviewed

Identity theft is one of the most shocking crimes that you can be a victim of, simply because of the huge amounts of stress you’ll be subjected to – not only while the crime is in progress, but long after that as well. Even though public awareness of it seems to be on the rise, a lot of people still fall for old and tried tricks. Sometimes very simple ones, sometimes you’re sucked into a massive scheme involving multiple people – in both cases, the consequences for you can be severe. And with the advance of the Internet into our everyday lives, identity thieves have already found ways to do their dirty business online.

Fraudulent e-mails from companies you trust

Do you have an eBay account? How about a PayPal one? If you do, chances are you can fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book, if you’re not prepared. Otherwise known as “phishing”, the idea here is to send you an e-mail claiming to come from a reputed company that you hold an account with (such as PayPal), informing you that they’re undergoing maintenance, or something similar – and at the end of the letter, they ask you to log into your account to test something. And they provide you with a nice link that takes you straight to the login form.

Take a closer look at the link though. If the e-mail really does originate from PayPal, you should see nothing wrong. But if there’s something unusual about the address – tiny differences, like “Pay-Pal.com”, “PayPall.com” (those are fictional sites, don’t go there just in case) – this is a phishing e-mail, and you can guess what happens when you enter your login details into that form – you’re likely to find your account drained when you wake up the next morning. Always double check the URL to make sure you’re being taken to the right site – or better yet, go there yourself by typing in the address manually.

Be careful with lucrative employers

Job listings are another place where identity thieves like to lurk. Schemes here tend to be a bit more complicated, usually involving a complete setup with telephone lines, a company website, etc – everything needed to make it look like an ordinary company. You see an attractive job offer, you send them your resume and some other details. Then they contact you, pretended to be interested, and eventually telling you you’re hired – you then proceed to give them out your SSN, bank details, even credit card numbers – the list goes on and on. Remember, you’re thinking you’re getting the job of your life.

The general rule of safety here is simple – if it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is. Do a background check on the company – search for its name online, there are also directories of reputed companies – look if its name is there. Never give out your details unless you’re sure you know who’s receiving them.