Identity Theft: Protection Techniques, Introduction, Examples & Types of Identity Theft

What is Identity Theft?
As the name suggests, Identity Theft means stealing someone else's identity or pretending as someone else - to get any benefits which you may not be entitled to. Common examples of Identity Theft include

- Disguise to get financial benefits

- Disguise to cheat in someone else's name and identity

- Disguise Online, and use other's financial details, like bank account no. or credit card for illegal benefits.

- Fake a website, like that of a bank or financial institute or lottery site, to attract people to put in their financial details and later take advantage for the same

Identity Theft has become more common in the electronic era - at times when things can be done online at the click of a button at the computer.
Cases are aplenty when one steals someone's credit card or debit card and swipe it for their own use. Or someone using someone else's credit card nos. online to purchase things. Or the cases of Nigerian fraudsters, who pose as some bank sites and attract unsuspecting customers to pay some money as clearance charges or customs charges, or lottery sites which may claim that you have won millions of dollars and you need to deposit some admin charges to claim that money. So examples of Identity Theft or Identity Fraud are aplenty.

What are the various types of identity Theft Types?
Identity Theft may be braodly classified into the following sectors :

* Business identity theft OR commercial identity theft: examples - using another's business name to obtain credit - like the cases of lottery scams or Nigerian frausters claiming transfer of funds

* Criminal identity theft: THis might be a case of the suspect mentioning himslef/ herself as someone else when caught committing a crime

* Financial identity theft: This is the most common type of identity theft - it is for benefitting by using someone else's details (like credit card, bank account details) for goods & services. They are again classified as follows:

  - Accessing victim's information like Bank Account details and using them for personal benefits

  - Using the victim's information and opening bank accounts in his/her name or taking loans or credit cards in the victom's name

  - Another example can be for claiming insurance benefits of the victim after his/her demise OR trying to get the insurance for a person already dead and trying to act as the beneficiary

* Identity Cloning: Posing as someone else in your daily life - usually in distant places. For example, some visitors to Britain may pose as a millionaire business tycoon from USA and enjoy the luxuries of a star hotel and then abscond later.

* Medical identity theft: Not so common, but it involves using another's information to obtain medical care or drugs

What are the common methods used for Identity Theft?
Most of the times, it is the social engineering skills - people try to con others by calling them and telling that they are calling from a bank, or someone acting as a representative of a company, etc