Beware: Syndicates are still after your personal information

Consumers are warned to beware of syndicates that are still after their personal information. If your personal information is not protected, criminals can steal your identity and use it for all kinds of transactions, such as opening accounts in your name. You always loose money in the end.

There are two ways criminals try to steal your personal information: they trick you into sharing your personal information with them by for example, pretending to be from your bank or they steal it elsewhere, such as hacking into a company’s server and stealing your information there.

What is personal and confidential information?

Your personal information is your identity document, driver’s licence, passport, address and contact information. Your confidential information is usernames, passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs).

When your personal information ends up in criminals’ hands, they can use it – but it does not guarantee them access to your bank profile and accounts. What they can do is use it to convince you to give them your confidential banking details.

They can also use your personal information to assume your identity and open accounts at banks and stores for which you are then held responsible. Some of them have even defrauded consumers’ insurers, medical aids and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) by pretending to be someone else and gaining access to their bank accounts.

ALSO READ: Identity theft can happen to you too!

How to protect your identity

As a consumer, it is your duty to take care of your personal and confidential information to reduce the risk that criminals can use your information.

Manie van Schalkwyk, CEO of the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service, advises consumers to treat their personal information like cash. “Always keep it safe because once it leaks out, anyone can use it at any time to pretend to be you,” he says.

Since you cannot simply change your personal information, such as your identity number and address, you can take the following preventative steps when someone asks for your information for security authorisation purposes:

• Do not use any information that may have been leaked. Rather use personal information that you have not previously used to confirm who you are in the future.
• Get a new email account.
• Use two-step consent for all financial products and accounts.
• Register for text notifications to let you know when someone is accessing your accounts.
• Check your credit profile regularly to see if someone has applied for credit on your behalf and if this has happened, notify the credit provider immediately.
• Investigate and register for notices with credit bureaus that someone with your details is applying for credit.
• Check your bank statements regularly.
• Do not give personal information, such as passwords, to anyone who contacts you, whether it is by phone, fax or text message, or even email.
• Change your password regularly and do not give it to anyone else.
• Make sure who it is who is requesting your personal information and only give it if you are absolutely sure that there is a good reason for it.
• Do not keep personal information in your wallet unnecessarily.
• Do not write down your passwords and PINs and do not use birth dates and names in your passwords and PINs.
• Do not conduct banking business at Internet cafes or unsafe terminals.
• Use strong passwords for all your accounts.
• Lock up your personal documents securely.
• When you discard documents with personal information, shred or burn them.
• Make sure you use good virus protection to make sure a virus cannot send you details from your computer.
• Report theft of your identity document, passport or driver’s licence to the police immediately.
• To prevent your identity from being used to commit fraud when it is stolen, let the SAFPS know immediately on 0860 101 248 or at its website.

ALSO READ: Experian data leak: how to avoid being caught by scammers

If someone has already stolen your identity or information

We often hear about hackers stealing personal information when they gain access to millions of records from companies that often include banking details and ID numbers.

“This shows that every company that holds consumers’ personal information is a potential target. Consumers urgently need another layer of protection on their identity to protect them from people who want to turn their lives around without thinking twice,” says Van Schalkwyk.

If you just look at how many cyberattacks occur daily, it is clear how great the risk is: there are 17 billion cyberattacks around the world every day, but not all of them are successful.

Cyberattacks in South Africa

Over the past few years, South Africans have often reported being victims of cyberattacks and some of these attacks aimed to steal consumers’ personal information.

The problem is that no organisation is immune to cyberattacks and even the department of justice has been the victim of a cyberattack. In another cyberattack at a professional debt collector, a cyberattack resulted in a significant amount of personal information being stolen from more than 1.4 million consumers and employees.

“Cyberattacks are on the rise globally and South Africa has seen an incredible increase in the number of cyber victims,” says Dalene Deale, CEO of Secure Citizen, which was founded by the SAFPS and OneVault in response to the rapid growth in identity theft due to online fraud.

ALSO READ: Identity theft up by 337% in 2020, fraud summit hears

Risk becoming greater and greater

“Fraudsters don’t discriminate. As the community continually moves towards the institution of digital and more importantly, the ‘touchless’ era, the plateau for fraud is getting bigger and bigger. Fraud is a fraudster’s business and they often use the same business tactics we use in legitimate businesses. The only difference is that they don’t have customers, but victims,” Deale says.

“Thanks to the proliferation of cyberattacks, fraudsters are even more motivated and armed with the right information they can definitely pretend to be you. The effect of this is catastrophic.”

Van Schalkwyk is very concerned about attacks like the one at TransUnion last year because the records of 54 million people were in jeopardy. “In a country where identity theft is already common practice, this is very worrying. It is critical for consumers to act now before significant fraud occurs on their behalf.”

The previous major cyberattack was in 2020, when hackers gained access to 20 million records at Experian, also a credit bureau. The SAFPS then saw complaints of identity theft increase by 300%.

Digital Protection Registration

Digital sec registration done by Secure Citizen is one of the most important services provided by the SAFPS. It is a free service that protects individuals from identity theft. Consumers can apply for the service and the SAFPS then lets its members know that they need to use additional flexibility measures when working with your details.

The digital protection registration gives you that additional layer of protection you need so that you can rest assured even if your information is known. “Consumers can register and do something today to prevent fraudsters from walking away with their hard-earned money. Only you should be able to use your identity,” Deale says.

Van Schalkwyk adds that it is important for the community to move towards a world that offers protection against fraud before anything happens. “We need to protect consumers and this needs to be done proactively. We can’t always act reactively against fraud.”