What is identity theft
Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information to pretend to be you, often to commit fraud or damage your reputation.
What information can be stolen
Information that can be stolen and misused includes any personal details, such as:
- name, date and place of birth
- address and phone number
- passport or driver licence information
- bank account numbers
- email addresses
- social media content
- photos.
If you’re a victim of identity theft, you might not realise until sometime after the offence.
What to do if your personal information has been stolen
How to protect yourself from identity theft
Common ways your information may be stolen
Your personal information can be taken in many ways, both online and offline. It can happen through social media, emails, phone calls, or in person. These are some common methods to watch out for.
Oversharing information
Oversharing information is when you share more personal details than necessary, often on social media.
Phishing
Phishing happens when someone tries to trick you into sharing personal information using fake phone calls, emails or websites.
Spear phishing
Spear phishing happens when scammers send very personalised messages to a specific person or organisation to trick them into sharing sensitive information, sending money, or clicking harmful links.
Smishing
Smishing is a type of phishing directed at your mobile phone, carried out via SMS or text messages. The term comes from mixing the terms ‘SMS’ and ‘phishing’.
Spam
Spam is unwanted electronic messages, often advertising, that can be used for phishing attempts or to install harmful software (known as ‘malware’) on your computer or device.
Skimming
Skimming is a type of fraud where criminals capture the information encoded into the magnetic strips on your credit and EFTPOS cards. This information can then be put onto a blank card and used to access your account.
Scam phone calls
Scam phone calls are a type of scam where a caller pretends to be someone you trust, such as a legitimate person or organisation, and tries to get you to give them personal information or to do something unsafe — for example, giving them access to your computer.
Malware
Malware is harmful software installed on your computer and can be used to:
- steal personal or sensitive information (for example, passwords)
- lock access to your device or files
- delete information
- add applications that do things without your permission (for example, to send spam).
Common types of malware includes viruses, worms, trojan horses, backdoors, keystroke loggers, screen scrapers, rootkits and spyware.
Pretexting
Pretexting happens when someone, who pretends to be a trusted person or organisation, creates a believable story (the ‘pretext’) to gain your trust and trick you into sharing your personal information.
Wallet or document theft
When someone steals your wallet or personal documents (physical or digital), they can use the information in them to harm you. Even if you cancel your cards or credentials, they may still have a lot of details about you.
Shoulder surfing
Shoulder surfing is when someone looks over your shoulder to see your PIN at an ATM or EFTPOS machine, or your passwords when you’re using the internet in a public place.
Dumpster diving
Dumpster diving happens when someone goes through your rubbish to find documents with details about you, such as bills or bank statements.
Business record theft
When someone steals digital or paper records from a business where you have an account, they could get access to personal information about you.
Hacking
Hacking happens when someone uses weaknesses in computer systems or software to steal your personal information.
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