{"id":1495,"date":"2022-02-03T23:53:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T06:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/?p=1495"},"modified":"2022-02-03T23:54:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T06:54:00","slug":"do-you-still-own-your-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/2022\/02\/03\/do-you-still-own-your-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you still own your ‘identity’?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Identity Theft?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Identity theft occurs when one\u2019s personal information is stolen and is used by another person. People usually commit identity theft for several reasons, one of the mentionable reasons would be for financial reasons, others may include illegal immigration, terrorism and spying. According to the FBI, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States. In 2006, identity thieves stole about $56 billion dollars in total; on average, each victim of identity theft lost around $6300 dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crimes that an identity thief can commit with your personal information range from applying for a credit card under your name before subsequently racking up prodigious charges to poaching your tax refund.\u00a0 In some cases, identity thieves are even able to assume an unsuspecting person\u2019s identity entirely, obtaining identification bearing their name and often committing crimes \u201cas that person.\u201d A very recent incident that happened in Florida on 28th<\/sup> January 2022, where a man used his twin brother\u2019s identity to obtain tens of thousands of dollars in military veterans\u2019 benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
https:\/\/marvel-b1-cdn.bc0a.com\/f00000000158494\/www.georgiasown.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/IdentityTheft-for-blog.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How does Identity Theft Happen?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are some of the most common methods that the criminals use to gain access to victims. Firstly, it could be through the user email. Stealing your email and most importantly work\/business email could be devastating. They can fake the identity and can perform malicious activities from the user\u2019s computer. Secondly, the most common of all, phishing. Redirecting to a person by making a person open an invalid link through email, scan a QR code etc. Cyber criminals usually try to deceive individuals through such activities to capture personal information and for fraudulent purposes. Thirdly, through skimming, where sometimes thieves are able to manipulate credit card processing machines and ATMs by inserting a device that captures the account information of whoever uses it. Fourthly, the most surprising of all, dumpsters, who may be using your old torn receipts and piece them together to gather information such as names, bank name etc. Something which would be very useful for them to open another bank account of the same identity and assume to be you completely. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/c\/ce\/Figure_2_Example_of_a_Successful_Identity_Theft_Refund_Fraud_Attempt_%2828356288536%29.jpg<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Precaution and things to do if Identity is stolen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It eventually comes down to our everyday habits about how much information we are providing to third parties such as the websites, banks and so on. There are some simple but effective ways of protecting ourselves from identity theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Protecting the SSN number<\/strong>: An extremely valuable piece of information for an identity thief, something that we definitely need to safeguard. It is a crucial identity that is used in several legal papers, business documents, or may be in insurance papers as well. If you doubt that your SSN has been compromised, notify the Social Security Administration as early as possible.<\/li>
  2. Entering financial information in verified, official sites:<\/strong> Nowadays, there are number of ecommerce platforms which may looked real, and you could be encouraged to purchase from that site by entering your credit card information. One quick way to check whether the website is secured\/encrypted is by checking the mentioning of \u2018https\u2019 instead of \u2018http\u2019.<\/li>
  3. Protecting PINs:<\/strong> In ATM transaction we might be required to enter our PIN number for withdrawing money. Make sure that one is shoulder spoofing you while entering the PIN. Informing the Bank(s) is the best thing to do if your credit card has been stolen or has been lost, or if you think that you had been dealing with identity theft.<\/li>
  4. Avoid Spam Offers\/Calls: <\/strong>This is probably the most frustrating of all the incidents that is happening currently. Often, people are now receiving fake calls where the callers are pretending to be border service agents\/ embassy people demanding for money and personal information. Alongside these calls, a person might be receiving various text messages about multiple offers or discount on certain items or programs.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    It is not fully possible to completely diminish the existence of identity theft, because as the world is growing, we are putting more and more of our information for the world to see. While exercising common sense will always be your best defence against identity thieves, the hope is that advances in identity verification will also make life more difficult for criminals in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/us\/articles\/2022-01-28\/florida-man-guilty-of-using-twins-id-for-veterans-benefitsa<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/identity-theft\/17120<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/money\/2022\/02\/02\/identity-theft-awareness-week-how-to-protect-yourself-from-scams\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/us\/articles\/2022-01-28\/florida-man-guilty-of-using-twins-id-for-veterans-benefits<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is Identity Theft? Identity theft occurs when one\u2019s personal information is stolen and is used by another person. People usually commit identity theft for several reasons, one of the mentionable reasons would be for financial reasons, others may include illegal immigration, terrorism and spying. According to the FBI, identity theft is the fastest growing … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “Do you still own your ‘identity’?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cpsc-329-602-w22","entry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Rajarshi Sinha","author_link":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/author\/rajarshi-sinha\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1495"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1502,"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495\/revisions\/1502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}