What would you do if you found out that someone stole your identity? Would you go after the culprit or brush it off and move on?

The Identity Theft Awareness Week this 2023 starts today, from January 30 to February 3. The event focus on how to reduce your risk and fight back against identity theft.

What is Identity Theft?

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information (such as your name, address, credit card number, etc.) without permission to perform criminal or fraudulent activities. Identity theft comes in many forms, some examples include credit card fraud, medical fraud, and driver’s license fraud, but there are many more.

In 2022, 4.95 billion people worldwide have access to the internet and due to the effects of the pandemic, more and more people are relying on the internet, scammers have plenty of chances to devise their schemes to get their victims’ Personal Identifiable Information (PII). We also learned that scammers are switching their tactics from their traditional identity fraud, in which the victims usually are clueless about how the scammers get their info to a new scheme where identity fraud scams happen when a victim directly receives phone calls, email, or text messages from a shady source convincing us into giving away our PII details.

Types of Identity Theft

• Financial Identity Theft: Occurs when scammers illegally access your bank and credit card accounts. Warning signs are strange charges on your credit card, calls from debt collectors about purchases you didn’t make, and being locked out of your own online bank account.
  
  
• Medical Identity Theft: This occurs when someone uses your health insurance information or someone else's identity to claim medical services, acquire prescriptions,  or use your health insurance benefits. Warning signs are unexpected medical bills,  unexpected entries in your medical record, and insurance that was already claimed.
  
  
• Children Identity Theft: Children's identities are actually easier to steal, they usually won't find out about it until they apply for a driver's license or student loan. Warning signs are the child already has a credit report, is denied government benefits, and starts receiving weird credit card offers.
  
  
• Other types of Identity theft: There are many types of identity theft based on how scammers steal the info and the identity of the victim.
  • Identity Cloning
  • Elder Fraud and Estate
  • Tax
  • Phone scams
  • Account Takeover (Social Media, Email, Etc.)
  • Wire transfer
  • Driver’s license
  • Crypto Account Takeover
  • Online shopping
  • Biometric ID Theft

Tips to Secure your Personal Info

Monitoring services will only let you know after something has gone wrong with your personal information. Check out these tips so that you can make it much harder for identity thieves to scam you.
 

• Use unique passwords on all websites. Install a reliable password manager such as Trend Micro Password Manager to help you generate strong passwords and store them in a safe place.
  
  
• Add Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to your accounts,  enabling this feature will enhance security.
  
  
• Secure your personal information, online security, and privacy. Level up your protection with Trend Micro ID Security.
  
  
• Do not click links in unknown text messages, emails, and untrusted websites. Check suspicious messages with Trend Micro Fraud Buster for free.
  
  
• Avoid scanning unknown or random QR codes.
  
  
• Check your credit reports regularly.
  
  
• Monitor financial and medical statements.
  
  
• Protect your devices. Install a good antivirus program like Trend Micro Maximum Security for your PC and  Trend Micro Mobile Security for mobile devices.
  
  
• Before disposing of, shred any documents with personal and financial information.
  
  
• Use alerts for all banking and account activities.

Cybercriminals were everywhere last year. They were on the texts you received, daily emails, and even on random websites — all that sneaky, nasty, and fishy efforts to steal your money. Our Trend Micro Check Team tracked and reported hundreds of cybersecurity threats and topics, with over 180 articles on scams alone. Here's a recap of our 2022! 

2022 Scams

2022 started with Fake MetaMask Security Emails and the risk of scams in the crypto world. Fake jewelry store, ispyjewelry[.]com giving fake gold to buyers.

Around spring, there were multiple fake Ukraine charity scams. 

When summer arrived, multiple travel-related scams like fake Sundara Inn and Booking.com websites resurfaced. Other famous scams are summer job-related scams taking advantage of online users looking for extra bucks.

By the last quarter of 2022, we warned you about scammers' possible attacks related to the news of Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. Also Twitter’s new verification policy,  Midterm elections, and Black Friday / Christmas shopping scams.

For Data Security and Ransomware & Viruses, read the full report here.

The most effective way to protect ourselves from phishing attacks is to be familiar with, or get used to the tricks and schemes cybercriminals use in phishing emails. Here are the common indicators of phishing attacks:

• Requests for your personal information and bank details
• Use of generic email content and suspicious email addresses
• Misspellings and incorrect grammar 
• Malicious hyperlinks that lead to fake websites

Their end goal is to steal your money. Do not give them that opportunity!

Here are the top phishing scams this week that you need to watch out for!

American Express Phishing​

Amazon Security Alert Scam

Sample fake Amazon security alerts.

• Information We have detected suspicious activity on your account and have locked it as a precaution. Click link below to unlock your account : If you do not verify your identity before 24 hours, your Paypal account will be terminated. Sincerely, Paypal Team

Netflix Phishing

Fake Netflix links via text messages. Do not click links from random text messages!

• [ Netflix ]    Your Netflix membership has been ended, because we’re having some trouble with your current account information.  Validate your account information by click link bellow:      Best Regards,      The Netflix team\

Be extra cautious! For more of these scams, read the full article here.

Here's how to avoid Phishing Scams

• Pay close attention to URLs — are they legitimate?
• Double-check the sender’s mobile number/email address.
• Free gifts are always a major red flag.
• Go to the official website/application instead of using links from unknown sources.
• Never click on links or attachments from unknown sources. Use Trend Micro Check to surf the web safely (it’s FREE!).
• Change your password as soon as possible if you’ve already clicked on a suspicious link. Consider using our online Password Generator (also FREE!) to create strong, tough-to-hack passwords.
• Finally, add an extra layer of protection to your devices with Trend Micro Maximum Security. Its Web Threat Protection, Ransomware Protection, Anti-phishing, and Anti-spam Protection will help you combat scams and cyberattacks. Click the button below to give it a try.

Need help generating a strong password?

• Create strong, tough-to-hack passwords with our online Password Generator (100% FREE!)

Email is one effective way to communicate with anyone, anywhere.  However, this gives cybercriminals the opportunity to use email to steal sensitive information, like bank accounts, passwords, and credit card numbers. Hence, the birth of email scams!

Email scams are malicious emails; they come in many forms. The most common are phishing, spamming, and malware.

Sample USPS Email Scam 

To prevent this from happening to you this 2023, why not start learning more about "How to spot an email scam"?

Here are some ways to recognize a malicious email:

• It came from an infrequent sender.
• It has an urgent call to action or an alarming tone.
• It has unexpected attachments and suspicious links.
• There are multiple spelling errors and bad grammar in the message.
• The email address or domain name is misspelled or altered.
• Email greeting is not personalized or uses a generic format like "Dear madam or sir".

Secure your online presence and learn more about the most common types of scam emails on our Help Center page.

Avoid Email Scams with Trend Micro

Trend Micro analyzes all aspects of emails and messages to give you the best protection against fraud and scams.

I am a Trend Micro Security user

Enable the best Trend Micro settings to protect you from online scams. Follow these guides:

• Protect yourself from scams on Windows.
• Protect yourself from scams on Android.
• Protect yourself from scams on iOS with Web Guard and Fraud Buster.

I don't have Trend Micro Security yet

Install Trend Micro Maximum Security to stop malware, fraud, phishing, email hacking, and other targeted attacks on your PC and online accounts. Get the same protection for your mobile with Trend Micro Mobile Security for Android and Trend Micro Mobile Security for iOS.

Strong passwords can help protect your emails

• Create strong, tough-to-hack passwords with our online Password Generator (also 100% FREE!)