"It won't hurt me"
is the comment that most of my friends make when I tell them to be careful, use different passwords, ...
They just think me strange because I am careful about security and privacy.
There were almost 90,000 cases of identify fraud recorded in the first six months of 2017 – 5 per cent higher than the first half of last year, according to data released today. Fraud prevention firm Cifas, which released the figures, said identity fraud was rising at record levels and now accounts for more than half of all …
They just think me strange because I am careful about security and privacy.
It is almost time to get paranoid about your own data security.
The old WW2 slogan
Careless Talk Costs Lives
should now be
Careless Posting Costs YOU Money
Getting your life back after your Identity has been stolen can take years. The first thing to go is your Credit Rating. It took me 4 years and an awful lot of work.
Thing is the police aren't interested in this type of crime in the slightest, but if you call someone fat on Twitter they're banging your door down in minutes. Policing priorities are all wrong and so are the penalties. Internet crime has a huge impact on people's lives but the perpetrators seem to get away with it time and time again.
The first part about name calling is metaphorical, but look what happened when numb-nuts metaphorically threatened to blow up Doncaster / Robin Hood airport!
The second part, yeah, the plod don't give a fuck. Very little to go on. That's why it's such an issue, easy to commit, easy to get away with.
"Labour's totalitarian-in-chief was on the radio yesterday, gloating that two people are in prison for calling her names online!"
Would one of those be the one with previous convictions of harassment and threatening behavior to two other women?
You know, the one that sent a photo of him holding a knife and saying "watch your back Jewish scum"?
Yes, just sounds like a pleasant fellow just having a little joke.
The Police aren't interested when you report it because YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM. Crime recording standards generally only allow crimes to be reported by the victim or an officer.
In general the fraud should be reported by the bank or insurance company that is actually being defrauded.
I wish people and sloppy journalists wouldn't talk about identity theft victims, because it's bollocks legally and gives banks an excuse to fob people off.
> The Police aren't interested when you report it because YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM
Right, so if I see someone breaking in to a neighbour's house, I shouldn't bother phoning 999 because I'm not the victim.
Sounds ridiculous, but it's actually true. I once witnessed some kids trying to burn down the bin store at the back of the building where I lived. Police wouldn't take a statement from me because I was a tennant, and only the owner could report it.
At one slightly dodgy area I lived, late night yobs took out the street light outside our house with a shotgun. Phoned the police and all they could be arsed to do was offer me a crime number. I declined their offer. Somehow I was under the misguided impression that some cops would turn up and look for the gun toting yob, but no.
You need to understand the difference between reporting an incident and reporting a recordable crime.
You can report anything you want, but it will only get recorded as a crime under very defined circumstances. That's important because response targets (those targets that Theresa May says don't exist) are based on crimes not incidents.
In the case of fraud your local Police standard procedure will be to ignore it and wait for the victim to report it. Act on Fraud might deal, because they are the national body designed to investigate systematic fraud. Those are the rules. If you don't like it, don't blame the messenger lobby your MP or Police Commissioner. Perhaps using these statistics. But bear in mind the six officers on your local shift will be run off their feet sorting out everything else from parking disputes to lost children to murders and won't have the time to do any sort of serious investigation.
Think about data protection law. It's still a crime, you can report it to the Police, but the national body to investigate is the Information Commissioner so the Police won't do anything.
"Crime recording standards generally only allow crimes to be reported by the victim or an officer."
Clearly things have changed. Back in my day I took part in quite a few murder investigations and I don't think all the victims lived long enough to dial 999 or was stumbled over by an officer who nobody else could call because they weren't the victim.
when western governments have collected the personal data for the criminals and relied only upon their power over their own people to protect it.
Add in allowing anyone and their dog the right to demand confidential data but do not actually punish them when they let it slip through their fingers (sell/do not secure) .
Then make laws to stop people using cash and wow, fraud who'd have thunkit
It seems that more and more sites require you to provide personal information before you can access them. Normally I use my fake identity for unimportant sites*, but recently a couple of sites have asked for my mobile number so that they can send me an SMS containing a code to "verify" my identity. Suffice to say, they didn't get my mobile number.
Giving any real identity info to some organisation that you don't know is asking for trouble. I always assume that they are a front for some cyber criminals.
*BTW my fake identity has genuine (fake) linkedin and facebook accounts (and no mobiles were involved) - lol.
"You can't steal an identity. They are permanently attached to people and impossible to remove."
That's a debatable point.
For the purposes of identifying oneself for an increasing proportion of transactions "identity" consists of a few pieces of data. Given those - or maybe a subset and a bit of social engineering of the service provider - then a criminal could start to get control of of other aspects. An instance would be getting a bank to send out a replacement credit card to a different address. Another would be getting a password reset to something the criminal controls.
We're used to having to remind people writing of "copyright theft" that it doesn't meet the ingredients of theft. But this is different. If the criminal takes control of various aspects of the individual's identity, at least within this meaning of identity, then the individual has indeed lost something and the criminal has gained it. It wasn't permanently attached and it's certainly arguable that it's been stolen.
share your life with strangers on line. ie:Social media. Tell lies on every web form one fills in. If one feels the need to brag about ones achievements on line to total strangers or the general public, perhaps your life is not as fulfilling as you imagine.
And blank the registration number when one posts an image of ones new M3. (I am happy with my 17 year old Ford Focus)
ffs!