770,000 Victims of Identity Theft Last Year:
Identity theft is no laughing matter, nor is it something that we can dismiss as only being relevant to the US or Europe.
It’s real, it’s here and it’s cost us Aussies over $30 Billion over the last 12 months alone.
Please be on the lookout for fishy emails, suspicious text messages and strange activity on your social media channels – if you’re not sure if someone’s been tampering with your Facebook page, just have a look at your “activity log” and you’ll quickly see whether someone else has been accessing your account.
To view your Activity Log:
1) Log in to Facebook
2) Click the small drop-down arrow in the top, right-hand corner of the screen.
3) Click on “Activity Log.”
This will show you, in detail, what you’ve been up to on your account, as well as showing you what others have been doing in relation to you – for example, if a friend tagged you in a post, it would appear in the log, if you made a comment on a photo, it would appear in the log, etc.
The average victim of identity theft in Australia loses $4,000.
ABC News published an insightful article on the subject, with case studies, witness accounts and even a few pointers on how to avoid being scammed this year, which you can view by clicking here.
One particular victim, described in ABC’s article, came forward to explain how she lost $6,000 to identity theft. Facebook and her emails where the theives’ primary sources of information, and they were able to get enough from those two channels alone, to gain access to her bank account via telephone banking. Rhonda, the victim in question, has since vowed to be more careful on Social Media, stating that she has since removed her address and contact details from Facebook, she regularly changes her password and asked her bank to disable her telephone banking feature.
Precise Investigation is frequently sought after to provide our professional services to those who may have suffered from identity theft, amongst a wide range of other cyber scams.
Identity theft doesn’t always just take place over the Internet either, there are a number of scam artists who are more than capable of stealing your identity in other ways too.
Call Precise Investigation today on 1300 856 011 and we’ll work to uncover the evidence you need to get your life back on track.
Please click here to see our full range of Private Investigation Services.
We have operatives based across the whole of Australia, so whether you’re in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane or any other city, we’re never far.
Thank you – Image credit: Merel Schoneveld
