Sweden has this year has seen the introduction of a new growth industry. Its not one of the Swedish classics like start-ups, pharma companies or telecoms. ID theft seem to bee the no1 case among criminals at least. So what can you do to stay out of trouble .
Actions to protects comes in three levels
A-To avoid being discovered and picked as target. In order to avoid to become a random target you can consider keeping a low profile in the public space (Facebook, media etc). If this is not possible you can keep some parts of your ID details secret and thereby reduce risk.
B-If you are targeted despite precaution, early discovery is key. This includes having regular check into the credit rating system, company registrar and other sources where fraud can be detected.
C-The third level is to have an action plan if you are affected. If you identity is stolen you should now how to secure it and limit effects. This includes having contact info to authorities and credit centrals etc.
1- Make sure your mail system is secure. Start with a great lock on the mailbox. Also ensure that when you travel your post is stored by Adressändring or collected on a daily basis by a neighbor. Any large scale attempt to get access to your ID&wealth will involve accessing your mail. The combination of public postings on Facebook plus unattended mailbox is the number one disaster recipe.
2-Your address is something you should keep for yourself and your friends. In most countries this information is available in public databases but it minimizes the risk for becoming a random victim. The same goes with your birthday, driving license data and mailings. All info's about your wealth, choice of bank should be kept as secret as possible, to avoid reverse engineering of your assets. Make sure you don't empty the mail into a trash without destroying sensitive details
3-Your phone number and mail . Same story take it away from the public phone-book in order to avoid discovery from criminal elements. If you need to keep a public profile consider using a decoy address, phone and email that collects contact attempts from the legitimate public. This can also give early warnings of fraud attempts or other crime. If you have a company special actions are necessary.
4-Consider a subscription on one of the ID theft solutions provided by UC and Bisnode (Sweden). Those solutions enable a quick response if someone tries to steal you identity or commit fraud. Basically what they do is to stream data into your mail if your address, credit score or other public data is changed or retrieved by a third party. The solutions on the market are by no way perfect but a good start.
gain time if you are affected. To provide all information to a middle part that should cancel cards etc in the case of loss is a security risk in it self and a trade off.
With those actions above in place you have reduced the risk drastically. If you need to have a public presence for commercial reasons special advisory applies. As part of the folkZhome project we have gained intelligence and methods on this as well.
Links
www.uc.se
www.bisnode.se
www.adressandring.se
