While most people don’t have a clue to how to protect themselves, Identity theft has become one of the fast growing crimes in the planet. Everyone into the scrap trade may be aware that Identity theft is a term used to refer to fraud that involves stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be someone else. In scrap trade, local traders disguise their company as some other renowned scrap trading firm to increase their business or to swindle the money of the customers. Identity theft is sub-divided into four categories by the Identity theft resource center:
1. Business/commercial identity theft (using another's business name to obtain customers)
2. Criminal identity theft (posing as another when apprehended for a crime)
3. Identity cloning (using another's information to assume his or her identity in daily life)
4. Financial identity theft (using another's identity to obtain goods and services).
IDENTITY THEFT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE OR ANY BUSINESS
Out of the 4 categories of identity theft, the Business/ Commercial identity theft is more common in the scrap trade. Though the business identity theft is done for many reasons, one common use of business identity theft is to get to the customers of the victim company. For example, if you own a well reputed scrap trading company, the ‘Identity thief’ after getting the names and addresses of your customers, may impersonate your business in e-mails, postal mail or other means to gain the customer's confidence that the correspondence is, indeed, from you and exploit that trust. This act will not only harm the customer but also destroys your business because the customer won’t be ware that it’s not you or your company that is involved in the deal. Most of the identity thief’s get the advance cash for the delivery of the goods in your name (that you will not be aware of) and then vanish. In that case, you will be forced to pay the compensation to the customer.
HOW DO IDENTITY THIEVES GAIN ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Now you may be wondering how these identity thieves gain access to our highly secured personal information or company data. Shown below are some holes through which your personal information may be leaking.
• Information from businesses or other institutions by:
Stealing records or information while they're on the job
Bribing an employee who has access to these records
Hacking these records
Conning information out of employees
• They may steal your mail, including bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks, and tax information. In case of scrap business make sure that all the mails forwarded to you gets delivered. Mails such as request for quote of scrap materials will be stolen by thieves. Once they steal it, the deal becomes there’s but under your name.
• They may rummage through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice known as "dumpster diving." Make sure that you shred the important documents like invoices and bills before you dispose them
• They may get your credit reports by abusing their employer's authorized access to them, or by posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legal right to access your report.
• They may steal your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device in a practice known as "skimming." They may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or attach the device to an ATM machine where you may enter or swipe your card.
• They may complete a "change of address form" to divert your mail to another location. This act makes you loose your customers due to the misrouted mails.
• They may steal personal information from you through email or phone by posing as legitimate companies and claiming that you have a problem with your account. This practice is known as "phishing" online, or pretexting by phone.
WHAT TO DO IF THE IDENTITY IS STOLEN?
Identity theft is bad both for the customers and the original company. The genuine company will loose the credibility among customers if they don’t act fast once they become a victim of identity theft. If a breach does occur, you need to act quickly to inform affected customers. If the situations are not handled well, the damage to your company will be staggering and permanent. Timing is critical, as prompt notification might help prevent identity theft or mitigate the damage it causes.
Report the crime to your local police or sheriff's department right away. You might also need to report it to police department(s) where the crime occurred if it's somewhere other than where you live. Give them as much documented evidence as possible. Make sure the police report lists the fraudulent accounts. Get a copy of the report, which is called an "identity theft report" under the FCRA. Keep the phone number of your investigator handy and give it to creditors and others who require verification of your case. Report the crime to the Federal Trade commission (FTC). Include your police report number. However, FTC does not itself investigate identity theft cases; they share such information with investigators nationwide who are fighting identity theft. You can also call the FTC's Identity Theft Hotline 877-438-4338 or use its online identity theft complaint form. To use the online complaint form, visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE:
Identity theft can happen to anyone, and can often go unnoticed until the point where the victim’s good name or his companies credibility has been completely destroyed. While recovering from identity theft can be a long and hard road to recovery, there are steps that someone can take to narrow the possibilities of becoming an identity theft victim. To avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, it is important to secure your data at every possible level. If you use computers, they should be adequately protected by security software and hardware, including firewalls and port blockers if they have internet access. Be careful when and where you use business credit cards. Always ensure that websites are up to date on their encryption systems and never give your information to strangers over the phone. Shred all documents thoroughly before throwing them away. Additionally, create some system for the customer to confirm the messages that they receive was send by you, before they take any action.
It will take ages to recover from an Identity theft. So always remember “Prevenion is better than cure”