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Help! Someone has stolen my identity ...



Diana Clements reports:

It's scary having your identity stolen. It happened to me in London and I lived through several tense weeks trying to convince a finance company that I wasn't responsible for a €300 ($645) spending spree.

Someone had found my bank statements and used them to open a charge card in my name. Astoundingly the person was able to spend €300 on the spot. It wasn't my spending and eventually the company gave up trying to chase me.



Here's what you need to know to avoid identity theft happening to you:





Identity theft is fraud where someone pretends to be you to access your bank accounts or to take credit out in your name.



The fraudsters could be living in your street or on the other side of the world.



They use many techniques to steal personal information ranging from rummaging through your rubbish bin to hacking your computer.



It's incredibly easy for them to find out personal information about you ranging from the property you own to your car registration details.



More than 1000 incidents of identity theft are reported to the New Zealand Police each year.



There is no guarantee that banks will reimburse you if you are the victim of Internet fraud as a result of identity theft, although they usually do.



If you become a victim contact the police to report the crime.

How not to become a victim





Never throw mail away with personal details on it. Always shred paper — or even do what I do when I can't be bothered turning the shredder on: rip it up and either compost it or flush it down the toilet.



Install security software on your computer that includes antivirus and spyware protection and a firewall (software designed to prevent unauthorised access to your computer across the Internet).



Check your bank and credit card statements online regularly. If your bank has systems to limit the amount you can spend every day, use them to ensure that no-one else can withdraw large chunks of money.



Avoid posting personal details such as full name, workplace, date of birth, and e-mail addresses on social networking sites.



Check your Veda Advantage credit file at least once a year.



Only buy from websites that you know and trust so that your credit card details can't be scammed.



Avoid carrying out transactions on public computers in Internet cafes or libraries. It may have keystroke recording software on it.



Put a lock on your letterbox and receive bank statements electronically where possible.



Consider taking out identity theft insurance.



Read more about identity theft:


Acknowledgements: MSN Money

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Image via CrunchBase

Are social network sites as safe as they claim. How private is our privacy?








Fifty-seven per cent of us think social network sites are private. Almost half of all New Zealanders now use online social networks - but most of us are hugely concerned about the information children are sharing on the internet.



A Privacy Commission survey issued today reveals nearly 45 per cent of Kiwis have online profiles - most on Facebook - which is up from 32 per cent last June and 14 per cent in August 2007.



But the rush to social networking coincides with greater concerns over online privacy, especially for children.



Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff told the Herald a surprising number of people - 57 per cent - believed social networking sites were mostly private spaces.



She said there was an illusion of privacy on sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, but personal details or pictures could be easily accessed by anyone.



A high percentage of social network users were children, and Ms Shroff encouraged vigilance in protecting them on the internet.



"The internet offers a huge amount in terms of entertainment, education and ability to communicate with others, but there are risks too," she said.







"When children are online they can and do give away a lot of information about themselves, without necessarily being aware of the consequences."



Ms Shroff cited cases of identity theft of children as young as 10 which resulted in online abuse on Facebook.



"[Children] can risk themselves and their families by revealing personal and intimate information, which enables harms such as identity crime, stalking, text bullying and invasion of privacy in various ways."



Last Thursday, 19-year-old Cody Rae Allen of Gisborne pleaded guilty to forgery and criminal harassment after setting up a Facebook page to harass a teenage girl who spurned him.



In a survey by the internet safety organisation Netsafe, 25 per cent of secondary school students said they had been aggressively sexually solicited online.



Children sharing personal details online was the greatest concern among people surveyed by the Privacy Commissioner's office - 88 per cent said they worried about the information their children revealed online.



Seventy-nine per cent were concerned about the security of personal information held by overseas businesses.



Netsafe operations manager Lee Chisholm said any personal information put online should be considered public and permanently accessible.

Ackowledgements: MSN -  NZ Herald

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