Identity Protection

This week has seen a burst of activity around protecting our identities online, particularly in social networks, bringing the need for trust online into the spotlight.

LinkedIn by 10%, Twitter 6.3% & Facebook 5.7%

Increased activity in online identity theft and impersonation in social networks was highlighted again in this article Why ID Thieves Love Social Media in the Wall Street Journal at the weekend.

Stay informed with ActionFraud.org, a service of the National Fraud Authority and the UK’s leading public resource for identity theft updates, prevention tips and recovery assistance. Keeping up-to-date can mean the difference between protecting your identity and finances or becoming an identity thief’s next victim.

Use a card protection service to protect your identity and guard against fraud.

You'll have just one place to call if one of your bank accounts or credit cards is compromised. Store their number in your phone, and on the fridge so it’s always close to hand.

Over the next few weeks will be posting some tips to help you protect your identity. Look out for these tips on Twitter and our Facebook page.

Do you know who you’re talking to online?

Make sure you really know, and trust, the people you talk to in your social networks and chat rooms.

It’s surprising how many people have hundreds of ‘Friends’ on Facebook they’ve never actually met.

Over the next few weeks will be posting some tips to help you protect your identity. Look out for these tips on Twitter and our Facebook page.

Only shop on secure websites to help protect your identity. Secure websites typically display a padlock icon and ‘https’ at the beginning of the address. This means they provide the secure identification of a network and encrypted communication.

Also, check that the web address looks legitimate, as scam sites aren’t meant to be permanent and don’t typically use a registered domain name.

Collecting data from mail is one the main tactics criminals use to steal your identity.

Be sure to shred documents containing personal information. Tear up old documents and their envelopes before throwing them in the trash.

Identity theft rates are still increasing and it is a real issue for many of us.

Over the next few weeks will be posting some tips to help you protect your identity. Look out for these tips on Twitter and our Facebook page.

A Fraud Report recently published by the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service CIFAS revealed the overall level of fraud increased by 9% last year with almost half of all cases due to identity fraud.

An extract from the 2011 Fraud Trends report reads:

“The continued blight of identity fraud accounts for over 113,000 fraud cases (a 10% increase from 2010 levels and representing 48% of all frauds).

If you’ve never met the ambassador of Nigeria, it’s not likely that you’re really the beneficiary of an unknown fortune.

Spam emails aren’t just harmless junk. They may contain viruses, ask for passwords and personals details, or redirect to scam websites that appear to be legitimate.

You can never be sure how an identity thief will attack, so reduce your chances of being victimised by deleting spam emails immediately and remember – if its too good to be true…it usually is.

The Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS) estimates16 million UK citizens access personal accounts and social networking sites from a smartphone.

Phones carry a multitude of valuable information about you and your friends, putting everyone you know at risk.

You wouldn’t use your computer on a public network without a firewall, so don’t leave your phone unprotected either. Protect your smartphone with a pin or tactile puzzle.