Outwit Identity Theft

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Consider all the information about you that makes up your digital identity. As you write product reviews, use health databases, post on social media platforms, interact with AI chatbots, sign into new accounts and buy online products, an increasing amount of information about you is stored online in different online databases and platforms.

This information could include:

• account information: usernames and passwords
• basic personal information: your address, phone number, name, date of birth
• financial information: your bank account numbers, your credit card number, your transaction or loan history
• physical personal characteristics: your biometrics (eg. fingerprints), your appearance, your voice
• employment information: employment history, employee files
• identification information: your drivers licence number, your passport number, your social insurance number
• medical information: your medical history
• interests and history: your pet’s name, your mothers maiden name, your favourite sport, your shopping habits

How is this personal information stolen?

It might already be publicly available! Some of the personal information listed above might already be visible to the public. For example, you might have a social media account that is publicly visible in which you share pictures and videos of you and about your life, or information like your date of birth. You might consider changing your account settings to limit the photos of you and information about you that is publicly available.

Phishing and Social Engineering: In other cases, scammers might trick you into providing personal information like bank account numbers, passwords, or social insurance numbers. For example, scammers might make fake websites to trick you into providing your account credentials, or they might impersonate legitimate companies in emails or text messages. Learn more about these types of online scams in our phishing and pharming tutorial.

Data Breaches: As described in the CBC video, hackers might compromise third party datasets, collecting the personal information of many thousands of individuals at once.

What could scammers do with this data?

• Sell it: Your personal information is valuable: on the dark web, huge databases of compromised personal information are bought and sold, and could be used years later. You can check if accounts registered to your email have been part of a data breach. If they have, don’t panic! Consider either deactivating or changing your passwords to those accounts though. 
• Purchase services or items: Scammers might use your credit or debit cards online. Check your bank accounts and credit card statements regularly and contact your bank about any suspicious charges. Also avoid using debit cards online, since credit cards offer better leverage if you run into trouble. Read the Government of Canada’s guide to protecting yourself from credit card fraud to learn more.
• Open bank accounts and credit cards in your name: This could impact your credit rating! You might consider keeping an eye on your credit score to prevent this from happening.
• Use government services: In the example shared in the CBC video, scammers used the compromised personal information of victims (including social insurance numbers) to submit fake tax returns to the CRA. This information could also be used to commit voter fraud, to create fraudulent government identification (like a passport), to use healthcare services and more. Your Social Insurance Number is particularly valuable personal information, which you should only share with the government, your employer, or financial institutions.
• Impersonate you online: Your name and photos could be used to open fake social media accounts. Scammers could then use these fake accounts to defraud other people through more elaborate scams. Scammers might even use AI to generate new deepfake images or videos of you, or to clone your voice. For example, in recent Canadian examples, deepfake videos of medical professionals were used to sell questionable medications, voice cloning was used to impersonate the family members of vulnerable seniors, and deepfakes have become a common part of romance scams.

Who is most at risk?

Are you particularly at risk of identity theft? Research on online identity theft victimization is conflicted. Some studies suggest that men are more likely to be victims than women and others find the reverse. Some research reports that older adults are more likely to become victims than younger adults, while other researchers report that the opposite is true. Results are similarly inconclusive when it comes to socioeconomic status and education. 

In a 2022 study on determinants of identity theft victimization, researchers correlated rates of identity theft with various personal attributes and online behaviors. Only three behaviors were significantly correlated with risk of online identity theft:

•  Purchasing things online with your credit card
•  Visiting risky websites
• Clicking on pop-up messages

Revisit your answers to Think. Did you report doing any of these things?

This isn’t to say that other behaviors (which weren’t listed in the study) might not also be risky, that if you don’t do these three things you are fully protected, or that you should never buy things online! The findings do suggest however, that being particularly careful about entering your most sensitive personal data (like credit card numbers), and generally being cautious when it comes to unknown websites and messages can help you keep your information secure.

Links

• The College Student’s Guide to Identity Theft |Scam Busters
• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
• Identity theft, spam and fraud | Office of Consumer Affairs, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (2019)
• Identity Theft | Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2018)
• Identity-theft victim says thieves have it easy and federal rules must change | CBC (2017)
• Identity theft can happen to anybody – learn how to protect yourself | Canadian Bankers Association (2017)
• The CRA’s new field guide on battling identity theft can help you protect yourself | The Globe and Mail (2019)
• 10 Things to Do Immediately After Your Identity Is Stolen | US News (2018)

Discuss

The Digital Tattoo Project encourages critical discussion on topics surrounding digital citizenship and online identity. There are no correct answers and every person will view these topics from a different perspective. Be sure to complete the previous sections before answering the questions.

• Have you ever experienced identity theft? If yes, what did you do?
• What is one action that you plan to take (or an action that you are already taking) to keep your information secure?
• For you personally, what aspects of your online life might elevate your risk of identity theft? Is there any way for you to mitigate these risks?
• Did you check whether any of your accounts have been compromised? Were you surprised by the results?

What do you think? Tell us using the comment below.