8 February 2002
Identity theft is now the fastest-growing white-collar crime in the world, and in Australia, there has been a four-fold increase in just two years. One victim is Glenn Barry, and his story alone is one that will hasten caution.
For the past two years, Glenn Barry has been receiving bills for various Internet accounts he never opened, and now the debt collectors are at his door . someone out there on the World Wide Web has stolen his identity.
Glenn says someone out there has actually created a new persona with enough legitimate details for information and accounts to make their way back to the “real” him.
Jeff Pope, the co-ordinator of the fraud desk at the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, says the Internet age has taken the age-old crime of fraud into the new realm of identity theft.
“Unfortunately, in some instances it’s very easy to do . in many instances you only require the name, date of birth and address – any other details can be fraudulently manufactured and you can take over the identity of that person,” he says.
And no-one is immune. It even happened to the former President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Geral Segal. Dr Segal did not have an Internet bank account, but someone posing as him had enough information to open one over the Net. It gave the fraudster direct access to his accounts and about $34,000 was ciphered off.
According to Jeff Pope, there is “evidence that very organised criminal groups are involved and [who are] very methodical about who they target. They have fraudulent documents to support the assumed identity and they are very well organised about who they approach”.
Think about how many organisations know the basics about you: name, address, date of birth. And then think about who may have your credit card details, too: banks, insurance companies, pay roll, department stores and even charities.
Tim Dixon from the Privacy Foundation says this is precisely why now, more than ever, we have to be careful about who’s got our details.
Tim says there are some practical steps to exercise protecting your privacy online.
For instance, he suggests you should minimise the extent to which you give out your personal details and be on your guard.
He advises vigilance when people phone your home; ensuring Internet sites are secure before giving out credit card details; arranging to have your financial details sent to a post office box rather than a mail box, and minimising the number of cards you have.
Of concern to Glenn Barry is the ease with which you can become someone else. He’s a computer expert and within seconds, he was able to demonstrate how easy it is to create an identity on the Net.
There are plenty of personal details about people innocently given to insecure Web addresses that have often been established specifically to glean such information.
Jeff Pope says these websites may have been slightly altered to trick the ordinary Internet user into thinking it’s a normal banking site – and unbeknownst to the user, they are entering their details to an organised criminal group.
The Web has created a massive problem and the victims are left trying to convince organisations that they are innocent.
“You could lose your entire credit rating if someone has assumed your identity, opened up and exposed you to a $10,000 debt on a credit card . socially, the impact can be devastating,” says Glenn Barry.
And a final warning from Glenn, “There is no such thing as privacy, it doesn’t exist . be very careful who you give your information to.”
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