Identity Theft on the rise in Australia.
A recent report that has been released in Australia shows that we are NOT immune to the global increase in identity theft, in-fact Australians are pretty soft targets.
It will never happen to me
The reasons for this rang from the attitude “it will never happen to me” to just being lackluster about basic security of your personal details, from securing your mail box to shredding your bank statements to even being on the look out for skimmers that skim your data, Australian’s are too laid back with their personal data & are easy targets for Identity theft or credit theft.
Veda, credit information company analysed $1.6 trillion worth of credit applications in the year to June 30 and found that $1.9 billion worth of those applications posed fraud risks.
1.9 Billion worth fraud risks
Veda’s general manager of fraud and identity solutions Imelda Newton said
“Identity theft was the fastest growing form of credit application fraud, as fraudsters continuously change their tactics.
What we’ve found is that the fraudsters have adopted using stolen identities as opposed to using fictitious identities,” Ms Newton said.
“In fact, over the past year, we’ve seen the use of those stolen identities increase 103 per cent.”
The information can be collected by fraudsters breaking into people’s homes, taking mail from their letterboxes or stealing wallets and handbags or even being wirelessly skimmed.
103% increase in the past year.
The fraudster then assumes the victim’s identity and applies for credit in their name. You can guarantee the financial institutions will not cover the fraud on that type of crime against your name.
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