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Invasion of the identity snatchers

Wilson Luna

The concept of someone stealing your life might sound like something out of Hollywood, but the reality is that identity theft happens all the time. And the scary part is that we're all at risk ...

Imagine somebody stealing your life – wearing your clothes, sleeping in your bed, doing your job. Your friends and family might not even notice you’re gone … not until it happens to them too. That’s the plot of the 1978 film 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers', where aliens plot to take over the world by growing copies of human beings and replacing them one by one. Creepy, right? While we’re pretty sure the world isn’t being taken over by pod people, something a lot like this happens regularly in the financial world – identity theft. Being a victim of identity theft means that somebody has enough of your personal information to convince financial institutions that they are you – which means they can tally up enormous debts in your name. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself and ensure that your identity remains yours.

Identity theft is when someone takes your personal details and uses that information to apply for loans and credit in your name, which you’ll be held accountable for unless you can prove that the debt isn’t yours – and that can be difficult, since the thieves had enough proof that they were you to get the credit in the first place. There are several different ways criminals can get hold of your personal information – Veda Advantage’s Identity Crimes Report from 2009 revealed that over 1.5 million Australians had credit cards illegally skimmed, and 1.2 million had bank accounts illegally accessed or personal mail stolen. What’s more, about 55 per cent of Australians had lost credit cards, keycards and drivers licences in the last three years, and 24 per cent of people had lost their personal information more than twice. The worrying part is that your stolen details won’t necessarily be used immediately, with the Australian Police believing that criminals are ‘harvesting’ information, slowly building up profiles of individuals based on stolen information for use later.

This is definitely an instance where prevention is better than cure, and the good news is that it’s pretty simple to do. Let’s take a look at some easy ways to protect your credit identity:

•   Report identity theft immediately – a lost or stolen wallet can contain more than enough information for thieves to start creating a fake ‘you’.

•   Change your PINs and passwords regularly to protect credit cards and online banking details.

•   Buy a shredder and destroy all documents that contain personal information when you no longer need them – even seemingly innocent mail that’s addressed to you (such as utilities bills) can be used to provide proof of ID.

•   Keep a record of when regular bills are due, and contact providers if your bills don’t arrive on time – stolen account details can provide thieves with a lot of personal information about you.

•   Never, ever provide your bank account or credit card details to callers or emailers who claim they are from your bank, credit or utilities providers. Take a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach and contact these organisations yourself to confirm the validity of these calls before handing information over. 

•   Never store your PINs or passwords on your mobile phone, and don’t keep them in your wallet either.

•   When you’re shopping online, check the security of the website you’re accessing (you can read more about how to protect your online identity in our ‘High-tech Protection’ article).

These are just a few of the things you can do to protect yourself, but unfortunately, there’s no ‘perfect’ defence against having your identity stolen – the best you can do is be alert, be careful and ensure that you protect credit and personal details as much as possible. Part of this process is ensuring that you keep a close eye on your personal credit reference, which is like your financial ‘report card’, kept by Australia’s credit report agency, Veda Advantage. (To find out more about your credit reference file – and how to manage it – take a look at our article ‘Protecting your secret financial identity’.)

The thought of someone having enough information to pretend that they’re you is something we think everyone should be concerned about, but there are steps you can take to keep your personal information safe, and by keeping an eye on your credit reference as well, you’ll be able to limit the amount of damage identity thieves can do. And now that’s out of the way, the only thing left to worry about is whether the pod people really are coming to take over the world!

If you liked this article you might also be interested in these other articles about protecting your credit identity:

Avoid the risk of identity theft

How to build a 'AAA' credit rating

Want more? Take a look at the rest of our money management advice articles.

Chat with other YFYM members about your experience with ID theft in our Could you be a victim of identity theft? forum.

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Author's Biography

Wilson Luna is an author, wealth adviser and founder of Your Family Your Money. Your Family Your Money’s goal is to simplify traditionally complex financial strategies, demystify financial jargon and debunk common financial myths, becoming every family’s first stop for financial advice, information and inspiration.