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: Protect yourself from identity theft, where the new age criminal steals your identity, your money, your credit and your life as you own it

A marketing executive was recently pick-pocketed. His wallet contained his debit and credit cards, it took him a few minutes to realise what had happened and approximately 30 minutes to block each card. But by then it was already too late, for he had lost Rs 78,000 on his credit card and another Rs 35,000 from his debit. Not too long ago, a software engineer in Bengalooru was arrested, he had been making online transactions using various peoples credit card details, purchasing products from one place and auctioning them off online to various pother locations. A college-going boy travelling in the Delhi subway was using his mobile to pay off his phone bills, which got credited to his visa card. Unknown to him, one of the guys standing behind him, had seen him enter his credit card number. Before the boy reached home, his card had been maxed out, with over Rs 1,20,000 worth of goods being bought. All the above instances share one common thread; they were all cases of identity theft. This is the fraud of the new millennium and can be committed by anyone, anywhere and at anytime. Understanding and protecting yourself from falling prey to such disaster which you or may not be able to withstand, is prudent and a must in this new era.

Have you ever been sent emails, claiming you have won lotteries you never played, received large donations in wills from people you have never heard of, or been required to revalidate online banking facilities you never used? Well so have I. They seem genuine, the email address the mail comes from, the url provided by them and the steps they ask you to follow. However, these are not real and should be ignored and deleted as soon as possible. This method used by cyber crooks to gather ones personal information, which is used to transfer funds, apply for credit cards and loans all in your name, is commonly known as identity theft. This method used to get personal information from victims is known as phising.