When someone else uses your online identity to create fraud message or commit crimes it is know as identity theft. In other words, you can say that Identity theft is any kind of fraud, scam, or crime that results in the loss of personal data, including the loss of usernames , passwords, banking information, credit card numbers, Aadhar ID or Unique Identity Number (UID) which is then used without your permission to commit fraud and other crimes.

Most Common Types of Identity Theft are: charity fraud , internet ticket fraud , gambling fraud etc.

Phishing: It is a illegally acquiring personal and sensitive information such as, online banking details, credit card details, and other login details, of an individual by sending malicious e-mails or by creating web pages that can collect this information as they appear to come from very famous organizations.

Dumpster Diving: It is a technique used to retrieve personal information of a user from his discarded documents Cyber thieves search your trash to get information about your bills, credit cards, and other personal information, like codes or passwords, which they can use to carry out an attack on a computer network.

Shoulder Surfing: It is obtaining information, such as a PIN at an ATM machine, personal details while filling up a form, or the lock code of a smartphone through direct observation by looking over a person’s shoulder. This happens in crowded places such as banks, ATMs, and while travelling by metro and bus. Binocular and visonenhancing devices can also be used to get details from a distance.

Employment Scam: It is giving to a job seeker a false hope of employment with better salary by paying a certain amount of money. The thieves keep tracking the accounts of job seekers who are actively updating their CVs. An email is then sent to the id offering them a good job with an attractive salary. In return, the jobs seekers has to share a lot of personal details, which also includes the bank details and transfer some amount to them. These details are then use to gain access to their bank accounts or personal details for identity thefts.

Pretexting: It is the practice of obtaining a person’s personal information using a fake name or fake company and then selling that information to people who use it to steal that person’s online identity.