Why is Online Identity Theft So Prevalent?

Criminals have used a number of methods over the years to obtain money from their victims, and when improvements are made to the security of key financial services, so the criminals then have to improve their methods. In the past one of the main ways many criminals used to get money from others was stealing credit/debit cards and cheque books, and faking the signatures to take out money of pay for goods and services. The introduction of Chip and PIN methods eradicated the need for signatures and checkbooks, and made it much harder for thieves as they would now have to know the PIN number, before using any stolen cards.

However many online websites accepted payments without the PIN number, instead requesting full card number, the ID code on the reverse and the issue dates, information which can be taken easily from the card itself. This made it easy for thieves to steal cards, and then use them to pay for goods and services online. Financial services are striking back though by setting up payment portals, which are activated every time you use your card online, and requests a personal password before the payment can be processed.

The easiest method criminals have of obtaining personal data from you online, is by email. Criminals send out emails that pretend to be from financial services such as banks, asking you to confirm you passwords or log in to activate your account. These emails can look very professional and genuine, but once you have complied the thieves have you personal passwords and can then log into your account, lock you out and do a lot of damage before anyone realizes and stops them.

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