Men's identities are stolen about twice as often as women's, a survey by UK building society Nationwide Building Society shows. The aim of the attacks is often to order goods online, which the injured party may have to pay for. 23 percent of the men surveyed had already been victims at least once. Eleven percent of women were affected.
Identity theft to buy under false names
A third of those who say their identity has been stolen report that it was used to order goods such as a cell phone or a vehicle. More than a quarter (27 percent) say that their accounts were accessed using the stolen data in order to steal. One in five indicate that the stolen identity was used to take out a loan. 19 percent say that after robbing their identities, thieves pretended to be their bank or building society to con them out of their money.
Nearly two-thirds of men surveyed are worried about becoming victims of identity fraud, compared to 70 percent of women. According to the survey, the fact that men are more often affected by data theft than women is also due to the fact that women protect their data better. Women are also less likely to have “friends” or “followers” on social media who they have never met, i.e. potential criminals: 37 percent, compared to 53 percent of men.
Lax sharing of data is to blame
The survey of more than 3,000 people in the UK shows that full names, ages, dates of birth, email addresses, mobile phone numbers and job titles are among the most commonly shared items. Some people also share the names of their pets, which could give criminals clues to passwords or security queries. Even the exact addresses are often published on social media. Nationwide warns that oversharing can leave people vulnerable to scams.
Source:
Press release
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