Identity Theft — Types and Methods of Prevention

5 min readMay 23, 2023

In the world of cybercrimes, identity theft is a severe crime. Cybercriminals use various methods to commit identity theft. The usage of advanced cyberattack strategies like social engineering, malware, phishing attacks etc. is very common in stealing someone’s identity.

Cyber offenders anticipate a worker having access to personal data clicks any of the links sent in the phishing mail, opening up the pathway to databases of individual and monetary data.

What Is Identity Theft In Terms Of CyberCrime?

Identity theft can be defined as “When an attacker steals someone’s identity online by gaining access to their personal information like login credentials, passwords etc. to break into their accounts and use it for their gain.”

Identity theft is also called identity fraud.

For example, when you fill out a form with your credentials that a hacker has set, they get your identity and credentials. They then use it to intrude into your accounts, masking as you.

What Are The Types Of Identity Theft?

Senior Identity Theft:

Senior citizens (above 60) are mostly the targets of identity fraud. It is easy to target them as they don’t have updated knowledge of cyber frauds and crimes. They are sent information through random sources that seem to be genuine, and after that, their personal information is amassed for such utilization. Seniors must be careful not to be victims.

Criminal Identity Theft:

When a criminal steals an individual’s identity, and they create false proof to back up their bluff, the victim is often charged with an attempt of identity theft. This means the criminal successfully assumes the identity of the victim, whereas the victim is falsely accused and charged.

Synthetic Identity Theft

It is another most common form of identity theft, as the chances of being traced are quite low. Multiple IDs are stolen, and a new identity is forged by the cybercriminals that contain the elements from all the stolen IDs.

The worst part about this type of identity theft is that when the forged identity is used, then all the victims are simultaneously affected.

Driving Licence Identity Theft

Driving permits are the commonest source of identity theft. The criminals get all the data on one’s driving permit — their name, address, and date of birth, as well as a State driver’s identity number. Hence, cybercriminals prefer this form of identity fraud. The criminals then utilize this data for any serving purpose. To apply for credits or credit cards, attempt to open bank accounts, or purchase cars, houses, vehicles, electronic hardware, or anything profitable and all are charged to the owner’s name.

Medical Identity Theft

Cybercriminals try to obtain the medical history or records of their potential victims to forge a bill and claim reimbursement or insurance money from the source financial security provider if any.

Tax Identity Theft

In this sort of attack, the assailant is interested in the victim’s employer’s ID number to request an evaluation rebate on filed taxes. It is identified only when the Income Tax department notices an issue or at the time of filing taxes.

Financial Identity Theft

It is another favorite form of identity theft for cybercriminals. In this, the stolen credentials of the victim are utilized to accomplish a monetary gain. The victim comes to know about the attack quite late when they check their balances carefully because most of the time the fund drainage is done subtly.

Tips To Minimize The Risk Of Identity Theft?

Utilize unique passwords and never disclose your pin with anybody on or off the phone.
Use two-factor authentication.
Secure all your gadgets with a password.
Don’t download any suspicious programs from the internet.
Don’t post personal data over social media.
While entering passwords at any payment gateway, check for their authenticity.
Don’t carry your sensitive information with you unless needed.
Make it a habit of changing your pins and passwords periodically.
Do not unveil your data over the phone.
While visiting places, don’t unveil individual data to strangers.
Never share your Aadhaar/PAN number (In India) with any random person or source.
Never share your SSN (In the US) with any random person or source.
Do not publicize your personal data on social media.
Please never share an Aadhaar OTP you receive on your phone with somebody over a call.

Taking steps to protect your personal information may not be enough because your data may still be subject to breach. Identity theft nets out a large domain, and not just your financial information. Medical or social identity theft is also a possibility. Even children can become a victim of identity theft, so it is better to keep children away from the internet, especially social media platforms.

To keep your account information safe, make sure to regularly check your credit report and take the advice of cybersecurity experts to keep yourself safe from identity theft.