The financial and emotional consequences can be devastating for victims. Once your identity has been stolen it can be difficult to recover and you may have problems for years to come.

What type of information do cybercriminals steal?

A cybercriminal may look to steal a range of personal information including:

• Name.
• Date of birth.
• Driver’s licence number.
• Address.
• Mother’s maiden name.
• Place of birth.
• Credit card details.
• Tax file number.
• Medicare card details.
• Passport information.
• Personal Identification Number (PIN).
• Online account username and login details.

How do you know if your identity has been stolen?

Look out for these common warning signs:

• Your bank statements show purchases or withdrawals you have not made.
• You stop receiving mail you may be expecting (e.g. electricity bills) or receive no mail.
• You receive bills or receipts for things you haven’t purchased or statements for loans or credit cards you haven’t applied for.
• A government agency may inform you that you are receiving a government benefit that you never applied for.
• You have been refused credit because of a poor credit history due to debts you have not incurred.
• You may be contacted by debt collectors.

How to protect yourself and your family

Cybercriminals can learn a lot about you from your social media accounts. Here are some tips to protect yourself and your family:

• Reconsider sharing information on social media like your birthday, photos of a new house that include your address, or photos that identify your children’s school, or details of schools you attended. These details are often used for security questions on financial and other important accounts.
• Set your social media privacy settings to ‘private’. Ensure you’re only sharing your photos and posts with people you know and trust.
• Don’t accept ‘friend’ requests from strangers.
• Cybercriminals try to trick you into giving away your personal information. They often impersonate well-known organisations to ask you to confirm your personal details via messages or websites. Because of this, many companies now state they will not ask you to update or confirm your details, like passwords, PINs, credit card information or account details via links in messages.
• If there really is a need to update your details, you should do so by typing the organisation's official website address manually into your internet browser and not use links from messages.