I have heard about the security glitches of ever-popular social networking site - facebook, but have not concerned me until i read on identity theft issue.
The article can be extracted from: Facebook users face ID fraud posted on 26 Oct 2007.
The risk of fraudster using your private information to create bank accounts, loan statements etc is very real.
Consider the following scenarios that are done through phone confirmations:
1. Mobile plan: You want to upgrade/ downgrade your plan. Add additional services.
2. Insurance plan: 3rd party affiliates from banks will call up to introduce you to their new policies.
3. Credit Accounts: Banks will call up to confirm creation of accounts.
These are the scenarios that i have been through, that will request for your name, date of birth and address for identification. All these information are readily available especially when users entered full entry in their profile. In addition, the ignorant users just put their profile openly in google search; fraudsters happily create account using these information for criminal acts. As a form of prevention, some agencies heighten security by requesting for identification number and secret questions to undermine fraudsters' plots.
However, i feel that protecting ourselves against identity theft is our responsibility. Some ways to enhance security and mitigate identity theft
- remove private data from facebook profile entry [safest]
- change the privacy status to yourself or your frienz
Ignorant will only cause your own demise.
~Jotting down my memories, creating new life's chapter~
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