Legal Articles

A problem many people face nowadays is identity theft. This has especially become a problem thanks to individuals oversharing personal information on social media platforms. 

Prominent platforms have also been hacked, and major social networks, such as Facebook, have not protected the privacy of our information as well as they should have.

In 2017, the American credit monitoring firm Equifax was faced with a data breach where hackers were able to steal the personal data of roughly 147.9 million Americans making it the mother of all data breaches. 

However, this is something that occurs in the thousands on a yearly basis. This made it the largest data breach of personal information. 

Prior to this attack, some 15.4 million consumers fell prey to other cases of identity theft in 2016. 

With the threat increasing each year, you would think that consumers will be taking preventative measure to protect their personal information or find out whether they are at risk or not. 

However this isn’t the case as many individuals not checking their credit score to see if they are victims of identity theft. 

In America, consumers are encouraged to make use of services which help to keep check of their existing credit accounts whilst monitoring for any potential fraudulent activity. 

South African Fraud Prevention Services

While in South Africa, we might not be able to have access to such services we can report any suspicious activity to South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS). 

We need to do whatever we can to protect our personal information on the internet. Being vigilant will help to reduce a lot of stress in the future and prevent you from being a victim of identity theft. 

How to increase the security of your personal information

• Regularly change your login details on any sites which store your personal information.
• Monitor your bank accounts and ensure that you keep track of all transactions which occur. 
• Don’t fall prey to phishing attacks wherein scammers will pose as the accounts department of a company and attempt to trick you into giving personal information. Most companies will not ask you to give personal details over the phone.
• If you get any notifications for an account being opened without your permission, it is best to treat such situation with haste and open up a case at the police station and report the fraudulent activity to SAFPS.

Van Deventer & Van Deventer Incorporated - Attorneys Sandton

Extricating your good name after Identity Theft can be a laborious business and you may want an attorney to assist you.

Contact us to help resolve issues with fraud and identity theft