MyCRA Specialist Credit Repair Lawyers

Tag: online safety

  • Safer Internet Day February 7 2012: be cyber-smart for a future clear credit file

    How to be cybersmart – that’s an important topic. On February 7, Australians have the opportunity to raise awareness as to how children and parents alike can be smart on the internet. This is essential for many reasons, one of which is to preserve our personal information, our financial identities and our clear credit file. Cyber-smart are hosting ‘Safer Internet Day’ with this year’s theme, ‘connecting generations and educating each other’, focusing on promoting a dialogue on online safety amongst all generations.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    Cybersmart’s key messages for schools, libraries and families this Safer Internet Day are:
    •Talk about online safety—with all members of your family and school community
    •Protect Your Privacy—check your privacy settings and update your software
    •Educate yourself about the online world—check out the Cybersmart resources.

    How can a young person’s clear credit file be put at risk from their internet use?

    Our young people need to be cyber-smart and also, young people need to be credit-savvy to get along in this modern world.

    One issue we wish to highlight to help young people stay smart online is for them to be aware of the ways in which they can be putting their clear credit file at risk every time they post information publicly on the internet, even before they are credit-active.

    It’s unfortunate that teenagers in Australia today are not immune to identity fraud. Even though they are not yet 18, the personal information that is made public today could be used against them in the future.

    Many teenagers do not know the risks of having a public ‘profile’ on sites like Facebook and Twitter, but fraudsters do. With the volume of personal information that is publicly available about our young people on social network sites, what’s to say fraudsters can’t pull that information and use it to build a profile that could allow them to create a fake identity?

    A young person who becomes the vicitm of identity theft could have their clear credit file ruined for five years. They may not even get a chance to get a mobile phone or take out a credit card themselves.

    Late last year, the Australian Federal Police’s national co-ordinator of identity security strike team, Ben McQuillan spoke about the dangers of identity crime at a forum on money laundering and terrorism.

    He warned forum listeners about the new trend of ‘data warehousing’ which involves storing data for a time, making it harder for a victim or bank to trace where and when the data was stolen.

    ”If people know your full name, your date of birth, where you went to school and other lifestyle issues, and they were to warehouse that data, there is a prospect that could then be used to take out loans or credit cards or to create a bank account that could then be used to launder money,” Mr McQuillan told the Sydney Morning Herald.

    Identity theft  is not only about the initial loss of monies, but if the fraud amounts to credit accounts in the young victim’s name going undetected and unpaid past 60 days, creditors will issue defaults. It need not be major fraud to have a detrimental effect to the young person’s clear credit file. Credit file defaults for as little as $100 can stop someone from being able to obtain credit. So any misuse of someone’s credit file can be extremely significant.

    Repairing bad credit, even following identity theft is not easy. The onus is on the victim to prove to creditors they didn’t initiate the credit. The fact that the perpetrator is long gone and the actual act of identity theft happened years earlier will only add to the difficulty for the young person in recovering their clear credit file.

    Experts recommend parents and young people continue to update their skills on how to be cyber-smart.

    The government’s ‘stay smart online’ website offers some top tips about using the internet which can be discussed with young people at home and school:

    Top tips

    Make sure your computer is secure—follow the advice in the Secure your computer section of this [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][stay smart online] website.

    Set strong passwords, particularly for important online accounts and change them regularly—consider making a diary entry to remind yourself.

    Stop and think before you share any personal or financial information—about you, your friends or family. Don’t disclose identity information (drivers licence, Medicare No, birth date, address) through email or online unless you have initiated the contact and you know the other person involved.

    Don’t give your email address out without needing to. Think about why you are providing it, what the benefit is for you and whether it will mean you are sent emails you don’t want.

    Be very suspicious of emails from people you don’t know, particularly if they promise you money, good health or a solution to all your problems. The same applies for websites. Remember, anything that looks too good to be true usually is.

    Limit the amount and type of identity information you post on social networking sites. Don’t put sensitive, private or confidential information on your public profile.

    When shopping online use a secure payment method such as PayPal, BPay, or your credit card. Avoid money transfers and direct debit, as these can be open to abuse. Never send your bank or credit card details via email.

    When using a public computer, don’t submit or access any sensitive information online. Public computers may have a keystroke logger installed which can capture your password, credit card number and bank details.

    We encourage anyone who is interested in protecting their identity and their clear credit file whilst online to visit the stay smart online website regularly, and if people have children, the Cybersmart website is essential reading for both the young person and parent.

    Get involved in the Safer Internet Day, and help educate someone you know about online safety.

    If you require further information about maintaining a clear credit file or repairing bad credit, visit our main site www.mycra.com.au or call us tollfree on 1300 667 218.

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  • Online identity fraud numbers doubled in four years

    The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported one in 10 Australians who use the internet have lost money to online identity fraud over the past year, with those losses reported to total $1.286 billion. The story, titled ‘Online ID fraud losses explode to $1.3bn a year’ featured a survey of 2510 Australians conducted in June by Galaxy Research, for Authentification Service company VeriSign.

    Identity crime is getting quite a lot of attention in Australia lately, with Channel 10’s 7pm Project running a story on identity theft this week. The Government also recently reported survey results on identity theft which reveal 1 in 6 Australians may be affected or know someone who has been affected by identity theft or misuse.

    If the VeriSign Online Fraud Barometer figures are an accurate reflection of identity fraud numbers in Australia – the figures have massively jumped from figures reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Personal Fraud Survey conducted in 2007. This survey (conducted with over 16,000 Australians) found just over 800,000 people have been victims of personal fraud, with combined losses of $977 million. These figures were across the board for fraud, including but not exclusive to internet use.

    The 2007 ABS figures represented 5% of the population. This new survey demonstrates a doubling in identity theft numbers for the internet alone to 10% of the population in just 4 years.

    This escalation in identity fraud numbers would be a direct result of an increase in internet use.

    Figures from 2008-9 from the ABS on the use of internet in Australian households showed 72% of households had access to a computer. It will be interesting to see what statistics on household internet use will arise from the 2011 Australian Census.

    People are increasingly conducting their social lives, their finances and their business on the internet. So, the freeing of information leads to increased opportunity for criminals.

    The government’s scamwatch website has extensive information on current scams that are plaguing the internet. There are so many forms of scams to be wary of out there, it is frightening.

    Cyber security consultant Alastair MacGibbon, former head of the AFP’s High Tech Crimes unit, broke it down into four main ways people could have their credentials compromised online:

    1. Entering details such as credit card and banking information into a website that is run by crooks.

    2. Handing card details over to a legitimate site but they are then stolen from the site itself through a security flaw.

    3. Man in the middle attacks, where a legitimate site is infected by malware and credit card details are stolen from users as the transaction is underway.

    4. Having a virus planted on your own computer which sucks up credit card details and passwords and sends them to criminals.

    What is not known from the recent figures is how many of those identity fraud victims have had the crime impact their credit rating.

    Typically, when fraudsters take out credit in someone else’s name, the victim is not aware of the fraud immediately. Any kind of credit account (from mortgages and credit cards through to mobile phone accounts) which remains unpaid past 60 days can be listed as a default by creditors on the victim’s credit rating.

    So the fraudster could abuse someone’s good name all over town and it is not until the victim applies for credit and is refused, that they learn about the identity theft and subsequent fraud.

    Credit rating defaults remain on credit files in this country for 5 years. The effect of people having a black mark on their credit rating is generally an inability to obtain credit. Most of the major banks refuse credit to people who have defaults, or even too many credit enquiries, so it is really essential to keep a clean credit record.

    It is actually quite difficult to go about removing defaults from credit files, regardless of the source. Most creditors will tell people listings are only marked as paid if they have been paid and remain there for the required 5 years. But by law in Australia, if a listing contains inconsistencies the credit file holder has the right to negotiate their amendment or removal.

    To clear their good name, the identity theft victim needs to prove to creditors they did not initiate the credit – which can be difficult. Not only are victims generally required to produce police reports, but large amounts of documentary evidence to substantiate to creditors the case of identity theft.

    So as they say,prevention is always better than the cure.

    The Government’s Stay Smart Online website recommends Australians follow these 8 top tips for increasing their resistance to identity fraud, and avoiding the loss to their bank balance and potentially their good name:

    1. Install and renew your security software and set it to scan regularly.

    2. Turn on automatic updates on all your software, including your operating system and other applications.

    3. Think carefully before you click on links or attachments, particularly in emails and on social networking sites.

    4. Regularly adjust your privacy settings on social networking sites.

    5. Report or talk to someone about anything online that makes you feel uncomfortable or threatened – download the government’s Cybersafety Help Button.

    6. Stop and think before you post any photos or financial or personal information about yourself, your friends or family.

    7. Use strong passwords and change them at least twice a year.

    8. Talk within your family about good online safety.

    For people who already suspect they have had their good credit rating compromised due to identity theft, MyCRA Credit Repairs can possibly assist in removing defaults from their credit file. Call us on this toll-free number 1300 667 218, or visit our website for more information www.mycra.com.au .

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