Stay Safe from Identity Theft - What is Identity Theft?

Identity thefts are rampant these days. More so when you are on vacation - out of your comfort zone and mostly not on guard. Thieves, counterfeiters and fraudsters are more intelligent than you can imagine. With each passing day, they discover new and innovative ways to get hold of the information required to steal someone's identity.

What is Identity Theft?

A person is a victim of identity theft when a perpetrator obtains their personal information and then uses it in an unauthorized way for their gain. Once a thief gets access to your personal information, they can do a large number of different things with the information. Financial frauds such as credit card fraud, bank fraud, and telecommunications fraud are the most common implications of identity theft.

Consequences of Identity Theft

When your identity is stolen, you get exposed to several vulnerabilities. If a fraudster uses your details for any monetary transaction, you could land in deep debt. In most cases of financial fraud, you can prove the fraud and you won't be liable for the debt. However, sometimes it can be very challenging to prove that you are not at fault and your financial health can be ruined. Even if you succeed in absolving yourself of the responsibility of the debt, your credit report might contain the incorrect information which takes a lot of effort to rectify. Your credit score will suffer and you might lose out on good credit opportunities. The consequences can be quite harsh. You should be aware of ways to keep yourself safe.

Tips to Protect Your Identity While Traveling

As I already mentioned, people on vacation are the most common targets of these fraudsters, let me tell you how you can secure your identity and protect yourself from fraud while you are traveling.

Protect Your Pocket

Don't carry all your cards while traveling. Think wisely and choose only the best cards for travel. Take along only those credit and debit cards that you plan to use, and one extra card as backup. Keep your wallet secure and beware of pickpockets. Monitor your balances from time to time to identify any possible foul play.

Avoid using your debit card for purchases. Fraud committed through lost debit cards put you in a vulnerable position as the fraudster gets access to all your hard earned money, which will be gone in a jiffy. The fraud protection policies for lost or stolen debit cards are quite weak. The bank might not cover the fraudulent charges, and the lost amount might never be reversed.

Moreover, the banks take a lot of time to resolve issues pertaining to a lost or stolen debit card. They have time up to ten days to investigate your claim and it might take even longer to replace the funds in your account. If the account concerned contained all your savings, then you would have to manage without money for a long time. Such a situation would severely affect your finances.

Fraud Alerts

You could sign up for fraud alerts. Many banks and card issuing companies offer the facility of notifying you through text or email messages in case of any unusual or suspicious activity in your accounts. You can receive these alerts even when you are traveling, provided that you have access to your phone and email.

Find out if your issuer has this facility and sign up for it whenever you travel. If not anything else, it will give you peace of mind and you can enjoy a worry-free vacation.

Public Wifi

Most airports, shopping malls, restaurants, and coffee shops make life easier for us by providing us with free wifi. This could be very convenient, but it isn't safe at all. Hackers can easily pry into your personal information through these open networks.

While texting and browsing on public networks are alright, shopping and banking aren't. The server may record your data, and counterfeiting gets easier through this. Use your own cellular data connection for safe and secure transactions. In case of urgent need, consider using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to keep your information safe.

However, your cellphone would most likely be on roaming and you might try to cut down on data roaming charges by using these free networks. You may use public networks for browsing the Web, but you must ensure that you are not sending sensitive data over the public Wi-Fi. Always set your device to forget that network when you log off.

Phone Security Features

With the advent of technologies like e-wallets and UPI, you must probably be using your phone as a mobile wallet. It means that your bank account information is saved in several apps on your phone. What happens if your phone is stolen? The thief can easily access all your data without even putting much effort.

What should you do? Keep your screen locked whenever you are not using your phone. Most phones these days come with several security features. There are fingerprint locks, PIN codes, passwords, gesture locks, etc. You can separately lock each app to add an extra layer of security to those apps that you use for banking and shopping. If your phone doesn't have these security features, you can download a mobile security app.

If your phone is stolen, you can trace it through GPS. Keep a mobile tracker app installed on your phone. It can be remotely activated and you will be able to retrieve your phone from the location pinpointed by the tracker. Alternatively, you could install an app that can be remotely activated to erase all the data stored on the device.