I read an article last week in bloomberg about how one of their writers had his identity stolen and it's taken over six years to fix everything.
He still goes to banks and has to explain it wasn't him who opened the account, show court documents, etc
With all my info across google/fb I'm worried its going to happen to me when one of my id's gets bought off the dark net
Thoughts on possible prevention?
if you use linux you're less likely to get spyware which means you'll be less likely to have your identity stolen.
>Thoughts on possible prevention?
0) Never use same password multiple places
1) This is going to get a lot of shit from Jow Forums, but hear me out: If you don't use any social media at all, make sure to actually register at least on Facebook. You don't have to put anything on it at all, just a photo of you and your name. A common way boomers used to get swindled some years ago was because they weren't on any social media at all. It was trivial for anyone to register an account in their name adding another level of impersonation. You don't need to put anything on your facebook, but just make sure to register.
2) Enable two-factor authentication on "critical" things, like your Google account and Facebook account (and, if you are on Jow Forums, on Github too).
3) Have one or two backup email accounts, make sure to register them as your secondary accounts on services you use. If your primary email gets hacked, then you have a backup.
this is very very true
that's honestly not a bad idea. Create a facebook profile with a basic picture so noone gets swindled pretending to be me.
Asides from the fact noone is checking for me and all of my friends are broke
Literally prevents nothing. Identity theft is can be as simple as some Mexican fuck getting his greasy hands on a scan of your ID.
Call bank or wherever your ID is from
Report it stolen
...
Identity theft is a problem when people get loads of stuff about you, in order to fully convince others that they are you, and take up loans and credit cards etc. A single ID card is usually not a big deal.
Research datawallet. It could be one of the most important projects in the history of the internet
If you live in an apartment, or generally 'urban' area where your mail might be compromised, I'd get a PO box. Usually scumbag neighbors will try to steal your bank statements and use them to open credit card accounts, apply for phone contracts, etc.
change your identity
easy peasy
>1)
How is this going to help? Social media is not a valid form of ID.
>2)
Requires botnet installed on your personal tracking device.
>3)
Just host your own e-mail. You own the server, so if it gets hacked it's no big deal. You can also fine-tune security by banning IP ranges, setting password polices...
Only if you use tailsOS or something
>How is this going to help? Social media is not a valid form of ID.
Employers, customers, clients, etc. are going to look you up to find out if you're legit.
>Requires botnet installed on your personal tracking device.
Authy and the likes are not botnets, but regardless most of these support using SMS as two factor.
>Just host your own e-mail.
If you have the time and effort, by all means.
ver very true, this is exactly what I've been saying ever since homeland security started asking for your social media information when applying for visas
>Employers, customers, clients, etc. are going to look you up to find out if you're legit.
Most of the time in professional environment you'll be communicating via e-mail. Just sign your e-mails with PGP.
>inb4 muh normalfags can't into PGP
You won't be doing any serious business with those people anyways. I still don't think it's worth giving facebook my mobile number, full name and picture. Automatic face recognition creeps me out.
Exactly. When I apply for an ESTA, I have to supply my social media account, and I'm pretty sure that Homeland and CBP both can and will use this to verify that I am a legit person in addition to all other info.
>Most of the time in professional environment you'll be communicating via e-mail.
I'm still going to look people up on LinkedIn and Facebook. It's the only way I can see if the person I'm dealing with is a complete fucktard or not. Most people do this.
>I still don't think it's worth giving facebook my mobile number, full name and picture. Automatic face recognition creeps me out.
Their training only works if there are a sufficient number of pics of you uploaded.
That being said however, ever since the tagging and face detection became a thing, Facebook allows tagging people who aren't members of Facebook and they do create shadow profiles and build these shadow profiles through tracking websites you use (by using cookies and the god damned "Like on Facebook" button you see everywhere). So if you have normie friends that have uploaded photos with you in it and tagged you by name, it's a good chance Facebook already is able to recognise your face.
Lol. Same thing is currently happening to a colleague of mine. Literally nothing he can do other than just tell them no it wasn't him. They haven't gotten away with anything yet but they have caused him headaches. It's been two months and now 11 accounts opened for him. That's just what he knows of too
>It's the only way I can see if the person I'm dealing with is a complete fucktard or not. Most people do this.
Most people are retarded. Social media is not a good measure of fucktardedness as what you see on facebook is fake life of that person. Look at it this way: who would you rather hire: Chad programmer with personal self-hosted web page showcasing skills and projects who communicates only via self-hosted PGP signed e-mail or virgin facebook phoneposter with sóydev github account who gives you xer preferred pronouns on twitter. HR droids might pick virgin though, I give you that. Too bad I wouldn't want to work for such company anyways. I've seen our country's intelligence agency post filers at universities requiring any applicants to send PGP signed e-mails. It's a quick way to filter out all the retards.
this is a fear of mine too. my will is too weak to handle such a situation.
Lol. Same thing is currently happening to a colleague of mine. Literally nothing he can do other than just tell them no it wasn't him. They haven't gotten away with anything yet but they have caused him headaches. It's been two months and now 11 accounts opened for him. That's just what he knows of too
>Literally prevents nothing. Identity theft is can be as simple as some Mexican fuck getting his greasy hands on a scan of your ID.
This mans. It wrong. This is meEverything so far have been online applications. The advent of being able to purchase credit and shit from the comfort of your home makes it so easy for them.
On top of that the crooks managed to call the credit bureau of all people. And got them to change his cellphone number.
Fucking useless
do the usual,use adblockers,do diagnostics with 2 or 3 different antiviruses and make sure that your account is not in some list of leaked email data because some funny dude will try to invade or send some shit like this
We are not talking about who you and I would rather hire, we are talking about how to prevent identity theft and how to prevent some random guy pretending to be you and fool normies.
how do adblockers even help?
We've given all of our data to fb/google/amazona and have no control. Datawallet or something where each get individual control of all of our data really is the future to me
I just tell my friends that I don't have facebook. I don't care about anybody else.
Don’t work at Bloomberg
That's probably all and well for you, but people have created fake accounts and fake scam businesses in other people's names that literally have ruined their chances of ever starting their own company.
I said it in my first post, Jow Forums really do have a knee-jerk reaction whenever social media is mentioned. But as I see it, in this day and age, social media is pretty much unavoidable and it definitively matters to have at least some degree of control over the information about you that's out there.
dilate
I do understand your concerns, but I still can't bring myself to use social media. I would feel too exposed as I see it as a massive data sink that I can't control. Sometimes I'm at a disadvantage because I don't use it, but that is the price of freedom: I don't have to post stupid status updates, over the top happy pictures, like and laugh at stupid memes, be overly polite and supportive, have to constantly fix people's computers... Social media is equivalent to making a public exhibition about your fake life with never ending Q&A session.
>inb4 just register, you don't need to use it
If it's not organic profile it defeats the purpose of having it in the first place when it looks like generic scammer profile. With all the data breaches and violations, congress hearings and other bullshit more and more people are realizing that maybe it's not really a good idea to use those services. Few years ago everything worked normally, people communicated and socialized just fine without social media, why is this now a problem?
>If it's not organic profile it defeats the purpose of having it in the first place when it looks like generic scammer profile
Well, you have a point here, I'll give you that.
>With all the data breaches and violations, congress hearings and other bullshit more and more people are realizing that maybe it's not really a good idea to use those services.
I do share your hope in this actually. I only reluctantly signed up 10 years ago, because I realised that it was the way people stayed in touch and invited each other to parties etc. I signed up to LinkedIn because it was the most efficient way for me to establish an online professional presence etc.
But of course, I do agree with you on overall that I hope FB and the likes fall out of popularity.
I think the idea of an identity placeholder to avoid fraud is valid, it would be a good idea for datawallet, build an app that maintains a profile web of you
You can't prevent it. All of our ssns are already for sale for about $5 each due to several breaches and security lapses at fucking credit reporting companies etc. All you can do is hope you end up dodging the bullet of having your info come up in the next black market ssn purchase
OP here, thanks for all the advice you guys. I'll take this all into consideration to better protect myself
This only happens in America and shithole countries.
honestly europe is so cucked at this point idk what else to say