Common Types of Identity Theft
To protect yourself from any kind of ID theft, it’s important to be careful with your personal information. An identity theft protection service can go a long way toward keeping your information safe and promptly notifying you if someone may have stolen it.
That said, here are some common types of identity theft you should know.
Financial Identity Theft
Financial identity theft is “the compromise of your existing financial account(s) or the creation of new financial accounts by an unwanted third party acting in your name,” according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Financial ID theft can involve any account that someone else opens and uses without your consent and for which you are financially liable. This could be a credit card account, a subscription, insurance, a loan, or some other type of account. Most of the time, attackers steal this information in data breaches or purchase it from the dark web.
A wide variety of personally identifiable information may be disclosed if you’re a victim of financial identity theft, including account numbers, name, contact information (address, phone, email), username and password, and Social Security number.
“The health care industry, with its aging infrastructure, slow adoption of security, and hasty need to move to electronic medical records, has turned out to be a treasure-trove for cybercriminals,”
Steve Tcherchian
Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Product Officer
XYPRO Technology Corporation
Warning signs: According to the security company Norton, warning signs of financial identity theft include your bank or credit card statements having unfamiliar charges, or unknown accounts appearing on your credit report. You also can receive unexpected bills and collection calls as these accounts become significantly overdue.
How to prevent it: The easiest way to protect your personal information is to be extremely careful about to whom you provide it. Legitimate customer service representatives already have access to the information they need and won’t ask you for it over the phone or in an email or text. Share information only with trusted sources and never offer usernames or passwords in chats, phone calls, or emails.
