Kalyani Pillay, the CEO of SABRIC, warned bank customers to be wary of sharing their personal details, even on social media, as criminals were finding new ways to commit identity theft.
Social media platforms were a valuable source of information for criminals as many consumers had more personal information on their Facebook profile for example, than necessary.
“People should be very aware that personal details such as names of their children, their birthdays and their whereabouts etc. which they post on social media, could be abused by criminals,” said Pillay.
Many South Africans only found out that they were the victim of identity theft when they applied for new credit facilities and loans, and it often proved to be a devastating experience.
Pillay said that the South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS) system helped to save customers, including banks, “more than R8 billion in fraud preventions through early detection of identity fraud”.
According to the SAFPS, more people would save more money “if bank customers were more vigilant in protecting their personal information”.
The roll-out of the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) biometric verification solution by several banks, which identified customers by their biometric fingerprints, has “made it difficult for criminals to commit identity fraud using tampered identity books,” said Pillay.
Pillay said that with tampering of identity books less of an option, criminals “are now collecting diverse personal information, whether it’s an email address or a phone number, and then utilising this information collectively to take over customer identities”.
This information, cautioned Pillay, was “freely shared by bank consumers, without being aware that it can be used by criminals to defraud them”.
Criminals made use of “social engineering tactics”, which involved calling their victims pretending to be from the bank and getting them to “disclose confidential information like passwords and PINs over the phone”.
This could also occur over email, masquerading as official bank emails, utilising malware attached to emails which enabled criminals to steal information from victims’ social media profiles that enabled them to impersonate someone.
Pillay noted that other ingenious ways in which fraudsters attempted to steal personal information was through the creation of “fake competitions, directing consumers to spoofed websites and intercepting emails to gain access to private information”.
Some tips people could act on to protect themselves, included the creation of strong passwords that were not easy to decipher; the keeping of all personal information, passwords and PINS secret and to not disclose them over the telephone or on email; shredding of all documents with personal information on it; to not carry unnecessary personal information in a wallet or purse; to not do banking activities at internet cafes or over unsecure terminals such as in hotels or conference centres; and to report stolen identity documents, driver licences and passports to the police and SAFPS immediately.
“Identity theft can happen to anyone and is costly to remedy once your credit profile has been affected. This is why it is important for consumers to stay abreast of how identity fraud trends change so that they can protect themselves,” said Pillay.
