Stuart Zullo
This year there have been a number of reported incidences of property fraud in Australia, which highlights the need for homeowners, or anyone for that matter, to keep their personal details secure.
Personals details should be treated like money in that they shouldn’t be left around for others to take, however a lot of people’s personal details are more available than ever before thanks to the amount of information available on the worldwide web.
People should be particularly wary of the details they make available on websites such as Facebook or Twitter and they should always make sure that adequate privacy settings are being used.
Some people’s online profiles reveal everything about them from their age, phone number and address, to where they work and when they are about to take their next holiday.
While these details might seem harmless on their own, if they get into the wrong hands they could lead to incidences of identity fraud.
To check what you might be revealing, do a quick google search of your name to find out what information is publicly available. If you are listed on social networking websites than check that your privacy settings don’t reveal more than you want them to, as a general rule it is best to make sure that only your friends can see your personal details. Make sure that you actually know who your friends are too and don’t accept friend requests if you’re not sure how you know a person.
There are a number of precautions that companies are taking to help keep personal details secure and to help prevent cases of identity fraud, but at the end of the day it’s up to individuals to help make sure that they’re personal details don’t get into the wrong hands.
If you would like to find out more ways you can protect yourself from identity crimes, there is plenty of helpful information available at www.scamwatch.gov.au.