Details Section

What is Identity Theft?

Identity Theft is defined as an individual falsely representing him or herself as either another person or a fictitious person to an organisation for some benefit.

Identity Theft is a type of criminal activity known as an e-crime.  E-crime is defined as a criminal offence where a computer or other (similar) electronic device is used as a tool to enable or enhance the commission of an offence, or is the target of an offence.

Examples of e-crime can include:

• hacking into other computer systems
• launching a Denial of Service Attack (DOS) thus bringing down computer systems
• creating and distributing viruses
• cyber stalking
• copyright violation offences
• distributing child pornography
• fraudulent financial activity such as phishing

With Identity Theft, once the criminal has assumed your identity, activity is usually undertaken such as opening and closing bank accounts as if you were authorising it.  The criminals will steal and transfer your money or take advantage of you in other ways. 

A victim may have to spend valuable time and money restoring their reputation after the event.

How do People Steal Identities? 

Even though you may think your personal information is safe online, criminals may find ways to steal your personal details. 

Tricks they use include:

• Hacking. Having your computer broken into with criminals extracting information without your knowledge.
• Computer Infections. Having your computer infected with viruses, worms or trojan horses which automatically send your personal information back to the fraudsters.
• Fake Websites.  Setting up hoax websites which appear to be normal but are designed to steal your information and passwords.
• Email Scams. Sending out bulk emails requesting personal information.  Phishing is a scam where thieves send out phoney requests pretending to be from a bank.
• Impostors.   People (especially children) may set up websites or post information as if they were somebody else.  Whilst no financial gain is usually obtained doing this, reputations can be damaged and defamation or cyber bullying can occur.

Thieves can also obtain your personal details in the real world:

• Stealing personal items such as your wallet or purse and obtaining information from them.
• Going through your rubbish or letterbox to find information.
• Having personal information stolen over the telephone or at an ATM or cash register.
• Having personal information stolen at places of employment or other places such as clubs where your information may be stored.

How can Identity Theft Happen to my Children?

Children of all ages can be victims of Identity Theft.  Whether it is a classmate at school pretending to be them online or more serious cases of criminal activity involving fraud, children need to understand the risks and what they need to do to stay safe.

Common ways that children become victims of Identity Theft include: 

• Giving out their account details or passwords to other friends.
• Not installing any security software on their computers thus exposing them to a range of online threats. 
• Leaving an electronic trail of personal information at schools, friend's houses or Internet cafes which can be followed by others.
• Losing personal storage devices such as memory sticks, phones or personal digital assistants which may contain personal information.  Often these devices are not password protected. 

Teenagers often have their first experience with paid employment when they start casual work.  They may be getting paid directly into their bank accounts which they can access online.  Before your children start engaging in this type of online activity they need to be fully aware of the issues surrounding Identity Theft.