[ image: Rosie O'Beirne ]
This morning I awoke to an email from a colleague who has reported and shared with the world his experience of having a body-double, a fictitious-mate, a humanoid thief in his very living midst.
As this is yet another example of identity theft within my own network and social communications group I'm sharing this further in the hope that it also alerts people to the growing number of body-doubles out there that leech on perfectly innocent people in the vain ( and of realized ) attempt to be anything more than the advantageous scum that they are. Given that this is the 6th example in the last two years I'm now sharing this with you in the light of shedding some light on what is a massive and booming industry with serious implications for the way that we authenticate with the big identity engines of tomorrow.
Here's how #### recounted his experience;
"I would like to share a recent experience I had with all of you; in the hope it raises your awareness to the threat of identity theft.
I am currently engaged in selling a property and buying a new property. A pre-requisite of refinancing, as most of you would be aware of, is the simple process of having a credit check completed against the borrowers. It came as a very big shock to me, to learn that I had a double, which supposedly lived in the Northern suburbs of Wollongong, and shared my birth date and drivers licencenumber. Even more disturbing was that my double had created mobile phone accounts with one of the larger Telco companies and defaulted in mid 2007. This obviously put the purchase of the new house in jeopardy and placed an enormous amount of stress and anxiety on my family.
The initial steps of attempting to sort it out were painful and frustrating, particularly given the bureaucratic crap I endured with the Telco Company. Eventually after reporting it to the police, consultation with a solicitor, and taking it to my local Federal member, and lodging a complaint with the tele-communication ombudsman, I was able to talk with someone from Telstra who possessed some logic and common sense. Fortunately they were quickly able to prove I was not at fault, and was a victim of identity theft, and my name was removed from the default list within three days of learning I had a false double. This enabled the sale and purchase to proceed.
My advice is to:
- Request a credit check every 12 months to be run against yourself. This will highlight if there is another you at a dummy address.
- Buy a shredder, and shred everything.
- When you provide personal details pertaining to the opening of new accounts, mobile phones e.t.c. Ask for and record the employee id numbers and names of the sales assistant, and any other person they converse with when activating the phone e.t.c.
- Unplug your communication from your modem every night. They come through the cable at night when you are asleep and turn the computer on, and retrieve any information they require.
- When you are on any secure site, such as a banking domain, don't ever click on an external link.
- Get a PO Box and re-direct some of your mail to the PO Box, or padlock your letter box.
- Do not respond to text messages from your partner’s phone requesting PIN numbers, this generally means they have just had their wallet and phone stolen.
- Don’t share too much information on social networking sites, such as birth dates e.t.c.
What are your thoughts on the reaction this person has had with their example of identity theft ?
Where do you think it's all heading ? What do you do to avoid identity fraudsters killing your digital identity ?
Comments on old post:
"....As a finance broker, I strongly suggest to regularly obtain a copy of both your credit & insurance files regularly. They are easily to obtain & free!You can also subscribe to a credit alert for under $1 per week to safe guard yourself against any fraud as any new enquiries or entries are placed on your file.
This coupled with a common sense approach should help ensure a healthy credit file."
Nicolas Jarvisto
Nicolas Jarvisto
