Double Trouble: How Digital Privacy Risks and Identity Theft Threaten Consumers

Nearly 30% of Americans are online almost all the time, according to Pew Research. The more hours spent on the Internet, the greater the threat to our identity and privacy. That’s because every action we take online leaves a digital footprint—a virtual trail of activity that can be used to identify us.

In order to protect ourselves from digital dangers, we first have to understand them. And while there are endless scams and threats, they usually fall into one of two categories: digital privacy risks and identity theft.

Digital Privacy Risks

It’s a safe bet that every website we visit, every app we use, and every company we do online business with is gathering information about us. And this information is often shared with third parties—seven in 10 smartphone apps share personal data with third-party tracking companies like Google Analytics, Facebook Graph API, or Crashlytics.

Over the course of its existence, Facebook has gathered a vast array of information of its own, ranging from the personal information we provide in our profile to our preferences as reflected in our activity on the platform to the operating systems and devices we’re using to access our profile.

Criminals also use social media networks to spread fraudulent links, phishing attacks, and malware. According to independent consumer research conducted for ID Experts:

Over half of Facebook users are concerned about their privacy or security on the platform.

Malware and phishing across all social platforms were of great concern to over half of the respondents.

3 in 4 adults believe children’s privacy is highly at risk across all social media platforms.

Another threat is account takeovers, where a crook obtains a user’s details to seize control of their online accounts in order to commit fraud. The 2019 Identity Fraud Study from Javelin Strategy & Research found that mobile phone account takeovers nearly doubled in one year.

Identity Theft

Identity theft occurs when personal identifying information is used without consent. Criminals have found countless ways to use a person’s name, Social Security number, address, date of birth, medical insurance account, credit card information, bank account and bank information, driver’s license, and phone number for their own personal gain.

The number of identity thefts each year is staggering. According to the Javelin report, 14.4 million consumers fell victim to identity fraud in 2018, and identity theft ranked second in the type of complaint reported to the FTC in 2019. Here are four of the more common types of identity theft:

Credit Card Fraud

Credit card fraud occurs when cybercriminals, friends, or even family members open up credit cards in a victim’s name. That’s what happened at Wells Fargo back in 2016, where it was revealed that thousands of employees had opened millions of fake bank and credit card accounts in customers’ names—and had been doing so since 2011.

In many cases, credit card fraud doesn't result in any direct financial loss, just a lot of headaches as victims work to restore their credit. It is likely that the financial institution or credit card company will pay for any monetary losses a victim suffers. Credit card fraud topped the list of identity theft reports made to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019.

Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft happens when someone steals personal health information (PHI) and uses it to fraudulently obtain medical services or products. (A related crime, medical insurance fraud, often uses stolen identities to bill for medical services that were never delivered.) Medical identity theft costs an average of $13,453 per victim, according to the Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft by Ponemon Institute.

If a thief steals a medical identity, the person who is insured could be denied treatment because the crook has used up their benefits, be billed for medical services they didn’t have, or be misdiagnosed or mistreated because of incorrect information in their medical record.

Driver License Identity Theft

Driver licenses are the most common form of identification in America, so, it’s no wonder they’re a target for identity thieves. The infamous Equifax breach compromised the driver’s license data for approximately 10.9 million people. Criminals can either steal a driver’s license and modify the photo, or they can use stolen personal information to forge a driver’s license. If someone has an accident or commits a crime and gives a driver license with a victim’s name, they could lose their license or face prosecution. ​

Criminal Identity Theft

Criminal identity theft is when someone commits a crime using a victim’s identity as a cover. This is very serious because as a result, a victim could fail background checks or even be arrested. To spot this kind of identity theft early, an individual can run a criminal background check on themselves. If anything wrong comes up, a victim can ask for a report from the courts where those charges were filed and submit paperwork to correct the records.

Digital privacy risks and identity theft threaten our financial and physical health, our reputation, and our right to keep our information private. With so much on the line, Americans need to take control of their identities. Award-winning identity and privacy protection from ID Experts can help employees and consumers protect themselves from these double dangers—and recover their identity quickly if and when identity theft does happen.