IDENTITY FRAUD

There is a special story about twins in the Bible . The older of the two was a tough guy. Father’s eyeball. Strong and shaggy as he was, he often hunted.
The other boy was a mother’s child, her darling. He preferred to be at home and it showed: he had smooth skin.
At that time (the story is set about 3,600 years ago in the area we now call Israel) it was common for the eldest son to inherit just about everything from his father. That’s why the mother made up a ruse. When it came time to receive the parental blessing from the (now almost blind) father, she had her son tie the skin of an animal around his arms. So he went to his father.
The old man hesitated for a moment. The voice resembled that of the youngest son, but the rough arms were really those of the oldest. And he gave the blessing – and with it the inheritance.

What the young man was doing here was basically committing identity fraud: he was pretending to be someone else. The youngest son’s trick from the Bible story cost his brother the inheritance. Today you also hear  of identity fraud victims who lose a lot of money. So there is nothing new under the sun. But how does modern identity fraud work and what can you do about it? That’s what this blog is about.

Are you who you say you are?

An obvious question – but not so easy to answer. What determines that you are who you say you are? The “identity card” (or a passport) is obvious. It contains your name, your photo and perhaps a fingerprint or iris scan. The latter two are unique – but they are by no means always checked. You can imagine that someone with a copy of your identity card can go a long way.

That is why it is forbidden (with a few exceptions!) To make copies of these documents and give them to others.

Webshops: gold mine for scammers

Because we often buy from a distance nowadays (see our blog about safe shopping on the internet ), both the buyer and the seller often do not know exactly with whom they are doing business. That gives criminals the opportunity to shop in someone else’s name. They have the items delivered to themselves (of course via a collection point) and the invoice to someone else. And then also the reminders and the collection agency. Then try to prove that you weren’t the one who ordered the stuff, like the ones in this article in the Algemeen Dagblad …
The scammers in this example didn’t even need to have that much information about their victim: name, address and telephone number were enough to place orders in the name of their victim.
When you consider how much personal information is sometimes known about you (date of birth, e-mail address, bank account number, credit card details, passwords and perhaps also your social security number) you can imagine how simple malicious parties can proceed on your behalf.

Prevent identity fraud?

The options for preventing this type of fraud are very limited: a lot of data is public and can be found, for example, in the telephone book. Also via social media sites such as Facebook it is not difficult to compile an entire “profile” of any user.
In addition, it simply happens that your data can be stolen in the event of a digital burglary at a company. For example, when this story was written, it became known that data of almost 2 million (!) People were stolen from Ticketcounter – a company that arranges entrance tickets for many amusement parks and zoos. Kliksafe received a neat warning: the data of more than 2000 Kliksafe customers had been stolen. You have to think of name, address, place of residence, telephone number, but also dates of birth and numbers of the bank account. In short: enough to take over someone’s identity:

PS: The customers concerned have received a message about this at their own e-mail address.

I fear we have to learn to live with these kinds of incidents. Still, there are things you can pay attention to:

• First, we need to be more careful with our personal documents. The example of the copy of your passport / identity card has already been given.
• We also need to be more careful with our passwords. A lot of people use a simple password – and that on different websites as well. You can easily check on the internet whether your password is known due to a data breach. The chance that this will be abused is then very high.
• It is recommended to use a different password on every website. Since no one can remember so many passwords, there are reliable and useful tools for that. See our blogabout this!
• Finally, you may have to take a critical look at what information can be found about you on social media or other websites. Have you ever searched on Google for your own name…? Perhaps you are giving away information too easily, when that is not necessary at all?

And if you have been a victim?

If you think someone is pretending to be you, report the matter to the police immediately. The tricky point with identity fraud is: you are probably a little further before you know you are a victim. So that declaration also takes a while. But you do need this declaration to recover any damage from the perpetrator or to be able to rely on your insurance. In addition, the police obviously need your information to be able to conduct an investigation.
Very important: try to collect information about the scam: keep all emails and letters you receive.
Also consider if you have information that might prove that you couldn’t have been the one who ordered something. Ask the creditor (for example the webshop) for all information about the order of the article or the subscription. Check whether an ID was perhaps used. Pass this information on to the police.
Also ask whether it can be traced from which IP address and at what time the order was placed. This may say something about the location of the person who placed the order. Maybe you can prove that it could not have been you.
Do not pay to a collection agency. Do respond to the agency that you have become a victim of fraud and enclose a copy of your report.
Continue to (friendly) communicate with all parties involved – including the collection agency – even if they no longer do so friendly.

Hotline and support

The government has set up a Central Identity Fraud Reporting Point. You can call them for advice and help. The telephone number is 088-9001000.