Identity theft in South Africa is Skyrocketing and no one is safe

Identity theft is a common type of fraud that is non-discriminatory in nature and it is one of the fastest growing crimes worldwide. Anyone can be a victim. Even businesses are susceptible to identity theft.

Generally, identify thieves use the victim’s identity to apply for retail accounts, contract phones, loans credit or even apply for employment. Identity theft can have a negative impact on the victim’s wellbeing such as being racked up in debts, bad credit score as a result of unpaid accounts which the victim has no knowledge of and being blacklisted to name few horrendous consequences.

Third party companies (credit bureaus) have access to people’s personal data and that carries a massive risk if you ask me, take Experian for example, the company had a massive data breach which compromised people’s data. The compromise of personal information creates an opportunity and makes it easy for criminals to impersonate the victim.

Expert believe that someone's identity is stolen somewhere in the world every two seconds, imagine two seconds! Don’t wait until it is too late and your credit worthiness has been destroyed. Be proactive.

Review your credit record for any suspicious activities on your profile.

Audit your bank statement for any unknown debit orders.

Subscribe for a Credit Alert service, when someone applies for credit in your name an alert will be sent to you via sms and email.

Stay tuned for the next article on what to do if you are a victim of identity theft.