Digital Identity - Protect Yourself and Stay Alert
I wanted to deviate from my usual technology trend focus and talk about a digital identity issue that was brought to my attention a short while ago. Our online presence is not without accountability. Some parties will try to remain anonymous as best as they can for various reasons. Others enjoy the benefits of posting their photos online for engagement and sharing with their existing social circles or with others who they seek a connection from. Online dating has been pretty hot over the last decade or so with multiple apps gaining traction. They are useful tools in a time where being social is becoming increasingly difficult, with or without lockdowns in place. The issue of focus however, is the dangers of identity theft.
Our identities are our own. Unfortunately, there are occasions where identity fraud take place and carbon copies of your profile may appear on different platforms. Whether it’s your details, photos or any other part of your online identity being stolen, it’s not a nice experience. Scammers make use of these legitimate looking profiles to coax others in the online social world to into parting with money or other extreme crimes. In other cases, identity theft is carried out as an act to tarnish one’s reputation or other personal gain. It’s important to protect ourselves from such theft.
Taking conscious steps to control viewership of your personal photos is a basic yet essential means of protection. Controlling content privacy on platforms such as Facebook is important to restrict access to those you trust. However, it’s important to realise that once your data is online, the risk of identity theft will always be there. There are some warning signals to look out for when it comes to identity theft:
• Abnormal follows – If your social accounts are normally private and an influx of friend requests come through, something may be amiss.
• Credit scores – Identity theft isn’t just on social media, credit application declines may be evidence of someone else attempting to take out loans with your details.
• Random Emails and Calls – A series of emails or calls to your number or address may indicate a leak or misuse of your details.
These are just basic signs of identity scams. If you’ve ever seen your profile pop up on a dating network or other social site, it’s a serious matter. Someone has decided to impersonate you and companies take this matter very seriously, an immediate report should be filed and perhaps further assessment of your photos and profile information spreading elsewhere. Staying safe online is not the easiest and part of having an online presence opens risks but staying alert and controlling sharing of sensitive information is important. Emergence of AI powered identity fraud detection has considerably helped businesses keep on top of things. Other systems such as Blockchain for digital identity is definitely not without its shortcomings but is a step in the right direction to at least protect us and others from the world of fraud.
