National Identity Fraud Awareness Week

National Identity Fraud Awareness Week

National Identity Fraud Awareness Week is October 5-11; the campaign aims to raise awareness of the dangers of Identity Fraud. The campaign is extremely important due to the growing incidents of cybercrime and identity theft within Australia. Galaxy Research found that 26% of Australians have been affected by identity theft, which is up 3% from last year. It is important Australians are well educated about indentify theft as it is an escalating concern that costs our economy $1 billion a year.

Identity fraud occurs when thieves steal personal details from victims by raiding their bins, by stealing their mail, internet phishing scams or by persuading them to reveal personal details in person or over the phone.

It is important Australians are well educated about Indentify theft as it is a rising concern which costs our economy $1 billion a year.

National Identity Fraud Awareness Week runs annually around the globe in Europe, Asia, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia campaign supports are Fellowes, Crime Stoppers Australia, and partners: Veda Advantage, Symantec, makers of Norton Internet Security, and Australia Post Post Office Boxes.

Interview with Michele Thompson

Michele Thompson is a Family Safety Advocate at Symantec

What is identity theft?

Michele Thompson: Identity theft is a two-step process. First, someone steals your personal information. Next, they use that information to impersonate you and commit fraud. It's becoming increasingly common, with Symantec researching showing that an identity is stolen online every 3 seconds. That works out to be nearly 10,512,000 identities a year! In fact, cyber crime has surpassed illegal drug trafficking as a criminal money maker. (Source: US Department of Treasury). Cyber crime is real crime; and it is more profitable, provides more anonymity, and can be more difficult to prosecute than offline crimes. Cyber criminals trade identities on the black market and the amounts of money paid for your personal information is alarmingly low - your identity can be sold for the price of a sandwich!

It can take extraordinary amounts of effort to rectify identity theft, so consumers need to be aware of how they can protect themselves! Victims often don't realise their identity has been stolen for some time, so it's important to be vigilant.


How can an identity be stolen?

Michele Thompson: Criminals use a mixture of tactics to acquire the information needed to steal another's identity.
These include:

taking personal information from a stolen purse or wallet

going through rubbish

phishing, where emails purporting to be from a legitimate organisation, such as your bank, request your personal details such as account numbers to be submitted by email

stealing somebody's identity online

Just recently in September 2009 the media reported on a breach of webmail accounts passwords including Hotmail, Yahoo and others, highlighting again this key issue. Tactics used by criminals including sending fake emails from your bank to steal your account access details, or fake charity emails to steal money. It's ever so important to have up to date computer security software to stop malware like key logging software and to remain aware when surfing the net - consumers need to remember that every click matters!


When ones identity is stolen, how does this affect the individual?

Michele Thompson: Cyber criminals usually target the area that's going to hit consumers the hardest - the hip pocket. In Australia in 2008, the cost of identity theft was estimated at more than a billion dollars. (Australian Bureau of Statistics (Released 27th June 2008) Personal Fraud Survey). To illustrate this point further, Symantec research found that 32% of goods advertised for sale on the online black market were credit cards, closely followed by bank accounts.

Around 4.4 million Australians (26 per cent) have now been affected by identity theft, up from 3.8 million (23 per cent) for the same period last year 2, according to a study conducted by Galaxy Research for Veda Advantage's Indexed Identity Theft Report - April 2009.

Australian TV and radio host and former Big Brother host Mike Goldman, found out the hard way the impact of identity theft. Like many people, he wasn't checking his bank accounts on a regular basis and it was about a month until he discovered his identity had been compromised and money was taken from his bank account. If your financial details are compromised, it can take a huge amount of effort to rectify that with your bank, and in some cases not all of your money will be retrieved.

Crimestoppers Australian urge consumers to be more cautious when putting private information online, watch these videos for more information on identity theft.


How can we prevent our bins and mail being stolen?

Michele Thompson: There's a lot of great advice for consumers on protecting themselves in both the physical and online world at www.stopidtheft.com.au.


What can Australians do to prevent their risk of identity theft?

Michele Thompson: At the heart of this issue are the cyber criminals making a fortune online and the victims they leave behind. In 2008, Symantec saw more than 1.6 million online threats. However, you don't have to be a victim. Education can do a lot to help people understand just what "common sense" steps they should take to protect themselves online.

1. Have up to date and comprehensive computer security software, such as Norton 360 or Norton Internet Security, installed on their computers. Without security, it can take as little as 4 minutes after connecting to the Internet for a PC to become infected!
2. Be aware about when and how they provide personal information on the internet and what sites they visit - every click matters! Your bank will NEVER ask you to click on a link or provide information in an email. Online offers that seem to good to be true usually are. Think about whether you would give up this information to a stranger asking you on the street, most of the time the answer would be no!
3. Regularly update passwords for online services, and to ensure that passwords are strong, avoiding obvious information like names and dates of birth in the password. If a cyber criminal gets hold of the holy trinity of your name, address and date of birth they can wreak havoc so be careful with this information.

In the physical world, be careful about how you dispose of material such as bills and bank statements that include extensive personal information - it's a good idea to shred these kinds of documents before disposal.


What can online retailers do to ensure they will not be affected by identity theft?

Michele Thompson: According to a Consumer Reports article, two-thirds of identity theft incidents occurred because of an online purchase. With this in mind, it's important for online retailers to ensure they have adequate security software in place both to protect themselves and importantly their customers. There is a wide range of software solutions available to businesses, whether large or small, to protect their site against security breaches and prevent information from being stolen. As an example, web site owners can sign up for free to Norton Safe Web, which informs the web administrator when malware is detected on their site.

As a consumer, some good tips to follow are:

Only shop at secure SSL websites: look for web sites that are "certified secure" and display a certificate either on their homepage or at checkout.

Shop where others shop: look for recommendations at major sites like Google and Yahoo, and check out shopper feedback before committing to a purchase.

Credit not debit: Use your credit card when you shop online, as credit cards usually offer buyer protection against fraud, lost shipments, broken merchandise, and other problems.

Check the details: Check out things like privacy statements, returns policies and terms of agreement before purchasing online.


For more information on how to protect yourself from identity fraud, and how to cope if you are a victim of ID fraud, visit the official campaign website www.stopIDtheft.com.au or www.Crimestoppers.com.au