Impact of online Identity Theft on Consumers & Organisations

Internet fraud has become a major issue due to the ever increasing population of internet users, because the internet is such an easy solution to fast sufficient services readily available for busy lives that’s is why most of us are now dependant on the internet in some shape or form and each time we use the internet we input data that are related to use from our name, address and even bank details with the assurance that the site is safe and trustworthy, but this is not always the case because the security system implemented like all things in this world has weaknesses.

Online hackers uses programs to penetrate these weaknesses of database system which holds valuable consumer information and data, which they can use for to carry out fraudulent activities such as; credit card scams using stolen identities acquired through the system, or open numerous bank accounts to make overdraft withdrawal using addresses they acquire from the database they’ve hacked. The main areas that online criminals target are bank details and financial records of customers from various organisations that they can get hold of large sums of money so it is worth the risk of hacking.

Credit card fraud scheme is when u use your card to shop online, giving details of your account in order to make a purchase, from here if you are careful you can stumble upon a mimicked site that is monitored by fraudsters using a program to record the details entered and these details is then use to make transactions from the victims account into the another account of the criminal or used for purchasing items instead of gaining hard cash,

Phishing is a scheme used by fraudsters to lure online customers to fake websites so they can reveal their bank details either through a purchase or through asking them to verify their account to make sure that the accounts is still active, this had lead to 55% rise in losses from online fraud against banks totally round about 23mil for the first half of 2006. chip and pin was introduced in 2004 in the hope to combat credit card fraud, and did decreased by 13% by the end of 2005, but even with this method in place the percentage of bank losing money from fraud carried out over the telephone, online or mail order rose by 5% and fraud using duplicate or counterfeit cards rose by 16%, this is due to the fact that criminals have access