Identity Theft

From Computing and Software Wiki

Identity Theft - (also known as Identity Fraud) refers to crimes in which personal information is obtained without person’s and used by a criminal or an impostor to commit a fraud or a crime usually for the purpose of economic gain. Some information commonly used by the thieves is: social insurance number (SIN), driver's license, credit card or bank information, birth certificate, passport etc.

Contents 1 Types 2 Obtaining information 3 Reduce the risk 4 What to do if it happens to us ? 5 See also 6 External links 7 References

Types

Identity theft is usually divided into two main types based on the uses of stolen information:

• True Name Identity Theft : Refers to the situation in which stolen personal information is used to open new accounts or obtain services (criminal/thief adopts your identity).

• Account Takeover Identity Theft : Refers to the situation in which stolen information is used to gain access to existing accounts (criminal/thief uses your personal information).

Obtaining information

Reduce the risk

What to do if it happens to us ?

See also

External links

References