Anyone who gives out a lot of personal data makes it easy for fraudsters to misuse the information. If your identity has been stolen, you should act quickly!

Our cooperation partner Checked4You, the online youth magazine of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center, has dedicated an article to identity theft and described the dangers of this form of fraud and possible prevention measures. Checked4You writes :

An invoice lands in your email inbox for things you never ordered. Okay, probably spam - so delete it. But then contract documents and other invoices arrive, now also by post. Something is wrong here. What do they all want? And where did they get your address?

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If you experience something like this, you should act quickly: someone may have stolen your identity ! Fraudsters use their victims' data from identity theft to conclude contracts and order goods. Criminals get this data in various ways:

Some operate fake shops or dubious websites where the victim has left their data. Others send emails that look as if they come from a bank or a large online shop (phishing). If the recipient responds, they send their data to the scammers. Fraudsters can also get personal data using malware in apps.

Also popular when it comes to identity theft: comprehensive information on social networks that the deceived person makes public himself. Sometimes just a full name and the address in the phone book are enough. Fraudsters can use the information as the imprint of a false online shop. The complaints and legal letters then end up with the owner of the stolen identity.

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The most important steps in case of identity theft:

  • Report this to the police immediately!
  • Dispute invoices and reminders. Sample letters from the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center can help . In the event of a dispute, dealers must prove that a contract was effectively concluded. And only those who contradict claims can prevent entries from Schufa or other credit agencies. Simply ignoring real invoices and reminders is the wrong approach! If you have any problems, the legal advice from the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center .
  • If someone has hijacked your profile on social networks and is publishing things in your name, inform the operator and ask them to block the fake profile and delete the published posts. Here we have an overview of the contact details .
  • Inform friends, acquaintances, colleagues and business partners that someone is using the Internet in your name due to identity theft.
  • Regularly check all devices with which you use the Internet for malicious software using an up-to-date virus program.
  • Change all passwords and use a different one for each website! A good password should contain a variety of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. And the longer it is, the better.
  • Constantly check the payment movements in your bank accounts (even for small amounts!)
  • Request information about your data from Schufa .

Prevent identity theft:

  • Don't make everything public on social networks and be careful with personal information! If possible, use a pseudonym. If you use your real name, do not publish your address or telephone number! For example, change the visibility of your friends' list to private on Facebook - our video instructions on YouTube . You can find out one reason why this is necessary in the article about a form of rip-off on Facebook .
  • If possible, use a separate email address for social media. We also have tips on the topic of free email addresses
  • If offered, use “two-factor authentication.”
  • Don't fall for fraudulent emails (phishing)! You can find out how to recognize them in the phishing radar from the NRW consumer advice center .
  • Do not allow yourself to be entered in telephone books and public telephone directories with your full name and address!
  • Object to the registration authorities sharing your data.
Article image: Shutterstock / By ra2studio


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )