Identity Theft and Scam Trends in 2019

Last Update: September 9, 2021 • Identity Theft •

In the years 2017 and 2018, Americans saw many serious data breaches.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 1,632 data breaches were reported in the United States in 2017 and 1,244 cases in 2018. As much as the number recorded in 2018 was less than the preceding year, the Center’s report indicated a significant jump in the number of consumer records with sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) in 2018.

There is no perfect way of avoiding identity theft, scams, and data breaches. However, you can minimize the possibility of becoming a casualty by knowing what could lead to such instances. ElitePersonalFinance asked experts to predict scam and identity theft trends that can happen in 2019. Here’s the finding.

Data Breaches

The cases involving data breaches can be very bad. Personal information gets stolen. This can turn into a significant problem. We have many entities with weak security holding too much personal information. They are the primary targets for hackers, whether private or government-owned.

Therefore, individuals, you have to try to stay safe. You should limit the places in which you leave your personal information. For example, why should your doctor ask for your Social Security number when they don’t even need it?

We shall likely see a few more sensational data breach cases dominating the headlines in 2019. To speak the truth, data breaches happen every day, every time, all over the world. Some cases make it to the news, and others go unreported, but they are there. Therefore, 2019 is not going to be any different.

The biggest threat in 2019 concerning identity theft will result from the extensive data breaches. In what’s becoming a shocking trend, the massive data breaches have dramatically shot up over the past couple of years. The pattern doesn’t look like it will slow down, even though there is a significant increase in awareness surrounding the issue.

Business Threats

2019 is a year in which businesses should remain alert about their internal threats, more than external threats and those from overseas. Most data threats come from employees who have no education on cybersecurity. A perfect example is phishing, which is gaining ground. Major hacks have resulted from opening emails from malicious senders.

We expect more businesses to invest significantly in internal security training, educate their staff on proper ways of creating passwords, identify phishing emails, storage and delete data in an appropriate manner, and a lot more.

You may keep your home network safe. However, if your company is hacked, you quickly become a victim of personal identity theft from the stolen information. According to the Crime report by the FBI’s IC3’s, Business Email Compromise and Email Account Compromise contributes to the most money lost. What does this mean? A hacker can log into your company and steal all your personal information, starting with the social security number, full name, home address, driver’s license number, to mention a few. Unlike in the past, today, skilled hackers leave no trail on the web that an expert can follow easily. The stolen data is auctioned on the dark internet, where the highest bidder carries the day.

Individuals, as well as organizations, should prepare for cyber-attacks and malicious breaches.

Here Are Some Tips to Identify Malicious emails

If, for example, you receive an email with the ‘To’ field left blank, it’s a clear signal that it didn’t come from the distinguished sender. Emails from companies bearing wrong grammar and spelling errors should make you suspicious. Large companies have editors and copywriters who ensure that email communications are accurate.

Types of Identity Theft

This type of identity theft is gaining ground, synthetic identity theft. It occurs when two or more different information is joined to form a false identity.

The hackers here the protection of the privacy mask of the dark Internet. There they sell your information to another hacker who uses it to steal from your account.

The worst thing is that victims of identity theft, as a result, do not get employment in cases where companies run background or credit checks.

Medical identity theft is another fast-growing type of fraud.

2019 is expected to have a more versatile than ever form of cyber-attacks. You have to stay informed about the most common types of identity theft. For example, we have account takeover, child/senior identity theft, mail identity theft, and many more. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report, the most trendy type of identity theft in 2018 and is expected to remain a significant menace in 2019 is synthetic identity theft.

Conclusion

Overall, it would be best if you remained on the lookout for any possible identity thefts, scams, and data breach waves. As much as you may not be in a position to prevent any of them from occurring in 2019, you can take specific precautionary steps to protect yourself.