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HOW TO COMBAT IDENTITY THEFT?

IF I GIVE MY IDENTITY TO WHOM I DON'T OWE, THE CONSEQUENCES CAN BE VERY PAINFUL, IN SOME CASES IT CAN MEAN THE BEGINNING OF NIGHTMARES, THOSE THAT NEVER SEEM TO END...

In recent months we have been experiencing a worrying increase in the queries we receive in the office about identity theft from clients and acquaintances.

The reality is that the digitization of banking services and means of payment has been a great opportunity for friends of others, generating new modus operendis to commit crimes such as scams and fraud.

All of us in a moment of carelessness have lowered our guard and have delivered documentation or information to a third party that we assume formality and guarantee, but that we have not verified, either in matters of electronic commerce, the sale of vehicles or real estate or even the candidacy for a job.

There are countless occasions in which we hand over our copy of the DNI and the rest of the personal data without too many or any questions. Fortunately, in most cases they are honest operators and the provision of documentation is of no more importance than the success of the operation. But on occasion things can get complicated, especially if our data and our documentation falls into the hands of the impersonation professions.

In effect, these professionals are specialists in simulating digital environments of operators with guarantees, posing as recognized companies, identified third parties, etc. All this in order to generate trust and obtain that precious thing they are looking for: our identity.

But what is my identity for? what can they do with it? , historically there is a well-known type of fraud that consisted of requesting personal loans based on a stolen or "distracted" DNI, normally they were not bank loans but consumer loans processed by financial companies, which historically have not been so punctilious with the identification from your end customer such as the bank, trusting the credit manager (normally the seller of the asset purchased fraudulently) to be diligent and check that your customer corresponded with the documentation provided.

The reality was that the poor victim received a notification that she was on a list of defaulters and had a lot of outstanding credits for consumption of things that she neither knew nor had bought.

Currently, this type of fraud continues to occur, but corrected and increased with the emergence of electronic commerce, both B2C and B2B. That is, between companies and between companies and individuals. For example, we have detected that some buyer of a well-known second-hand sales website requests before making the payment that a copy of the seller's DNI be sent "as a guarantee" of the money that is going to be deposited... it is evident that it is a possible trap since there are simpler and safer methods of guaranteeing payment in the same application.

In short, our recommendations to avoid this type of situation are:

1. Do not give our personal data or any documents to strangers
2. Report immediately at the slightest suspicion of fraud.
3. If you are a bank or financial entity, report possible fraud to the COMPLIANCE OFFICER, or regulatory compliance officer.
4. Do not leave our mobile, PC, etc. without control or to third parties.
5. Change passwords frequently.
6. Do not connect our device to unknown Wi-Fi networks, especially in airports, stations and centers with a large influx of people.
7. Do not connect the mobile to public charging devices without guarantees.
8. Do not reply to or click on hyperlinks in suspicious emails.
9. Attend to the requirements of the courts, police or prosecution diligently and with professional help.
10. Claim damages and losses from entities that, due to their lack of diligence in identity control, have caused us damage or harm.

In any case, our recommendation goes through the correct management of the incident, with diligence and early action being one of the few tools left to us in the event of identity theft.

At this point, we would also like to point out that criminals sometimes use perfectly legitimate and honest companies as a cover, unaware of the fraudulent actions carried out by third parties under their name. In this case, our recommendation is that companies be extremely proactive both in their COMPLIANCE audits, as well as in the investigation reaction and informing the judicial authority of any circumstance that could be susceptible to crime.

Otherwise, the company and its directors may have legal responsibilities, and in some more extreme cases, even criminal.

Finally, as always, we remain at your disposal for any questions or queries about this topic or any other that may be of interest to you.
We will continue to inform you.
Greetings.
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Jorge Ortega