Victims Of Identity Theft

Identity theft is a problem that is effecting more and more people every year, a report released by Michael Keenan shows that an average Australian household is 16 times more likely to be effected by identity fraud then it is to be effected by a robbery, this same report also indicates that people are becoming less concerned about identity crime, however with fraud incidents increasing by 30,000 from 2014 to 2015 and misuse of identity increasing by almost 20,000 from 2014 to 2015 it is best to bring about concern to the ever increasing threat of identity theft.
Identity theft is where someone steals someone else’s personal information usually in order to profit themselves in some way or another, identity theft can lead to the forgery of personal …show more content…
This is a good example of Identity theft and how it can happen, identity theft has become easier to achieve with the use of the internet, however there are still ways that identity theft can be …show more content…
There are many precautions that can be taken to avoid being prone to identity theft, one way is to make sure that websites you are visiting are safe, it is wise to never open a link sent to you from anyone regardless of who they are, if you are really eager to check out the website, there are websites such as scanurl.net that can put the website through multiple scans to check if it is safe or not, it is also wise to make sure that your computer has a reputable antivirus program installed on it, however install with caution as some antivirus programs can host their own viruses and malware just like any other program could, programs such as sandboxie which can help malicious programs from running out of this separate program as such. Another way identity theft can happen to you is through social media, social media is great to use as it connects the user with the world however this is a two edged sword as it can leave your personal information out there for the masses, most social media websites offer options that can make your data private or allow only your friends to see, however this can still make you vulnerable as other users can infiltrate your friends list, to prevent this never accept a friend request from someone you don’t know and make sure that the person you are befriending is actually that person, talk to them in person and ask them if that’s their account, also make sure to include as little information