Fraud is very serious business and can be carried out in a number of ways, including credit card fraud, falsifying sales figures or sales invoices or theft and can affect both businesses and individuals. But, one type of fraud that is on the rise in a big way, with a little help from social media sites, is identity fraud.
Millions of use social media sites on a daily, if not hourly basis. Whether you are a fan of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other social media sites, you are at risk from thieves stealing your information in order to commit an act of fraud. Latest figures from the United Kingdom’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, state that identity theft cases have risen by over 50% in just one year and that much of this may be down to the unknowingly help of social media sites.
Although most social media sites will urge people to check their privacy settings and be careful what they are posting, many of us do not, and that is where we are falling short in protecting ourselves against these thieves. Fraudsters are gaining access to accounts in order to obtain people’s names, dates of births’, places of work, and addresses and can soon have all they need to steal your identity. The annual cost of fraud in the UK is approximately £193 billion, with around £9.7 contributed from personal fraud cases (the rest were from business fraud cases).
However bad it may seem, there are always extra steps you can take to protect yourself and your identity. Some of these include buying a shredder and ensuring all personal information is adequately shredded, revising your security settings on social media sites, changing or strengthening your passwords, as well updating your computer’s firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware programmes. By doing all of these steps you are decreasing your chance of becoming a victim of identity fraud. So, just take a few minutes to check your safety, as it might just save your life.
Check this web site for avoiding any risks by following these guidelines.
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