Types of Identity Theft and how to protect yourself from it
Identity theft has been increasing at an alarming rate in this digital era. In simple words, identity theft can be defined as stealing someone’s personal information such as Social Security number, credit card details, etc. The information thus obtained is used without the owner’s consent which might raise concern for the actual owner of the particular information.
Some of the popular types of identity theft are:
- Social Security Identity Theft
- Financial Identity Theft
- Insurance Identity Theft
- Driver’s License Identity Theft
1. Social Security Identity Theft: One of the most common types of identity theft. This is because Social Security Number is the most valuable government-based identity asset. Once the social security number is stolen, the perpetrator can either sell it or use it to seize property and money.
2. Financial Identity Theft: Financial identity theft occurs when a person’s credit card and bank account information is stolen and used to obtain services and goods. This can result in not only a significant loss of money but also prove hazardous to an individual’s future purchasing power or financial security.
3. Insurance Identity Theft: This type of identity theft occurs when someone accesses your insurance to receive medical treatment. This may have a severe impact on the victims as it can lead to substantial medical bills.
4. Driver’s License Identity Theft: In most cases, criminals use the driver’s license of others’ to hide or protect their own identity if they are caught in compromising or dangerous situations on the road. If the perpetrator is successful, your driving record will be compromised, making life more difficult for you in the future.
To overcome such identity theft, an innovative project known as Ydentity has created the world’s first risk-identity token which is a unique proposition to utilize the risk assessment of the user to create a new digital identity.
This Ydentity token cannot be tracked by anyone since it is only a hash of the private key and contains a very limited number of personal information and data such as the phone number and email address used for signing up.
Know more about this revolutionary project: