Zimpapers Logo

Tom Muleya Fraud Insight

Fraud is a very broad criminal enterprise that is committed through non-violent means ranging from simple to complex or sophisticated methods. At least once in a lifetime, every person will become a victim of fraud. 

According to researches, the crime of fraud ranks top over all other crimes, resulting in huge monetary loss. 

With the increased landscape of digitalisation, Identity theft is becoming one of the major and fast emerging threats of cyber criminology. 

To the Identity Theft (IT) scammer, getting one’s personal information is getting a ‘treasure’. In that regard, every effort should be made to protect personal information or data. 

My previous writing in ‘The Sunday Mail In-depth January 29-February 4, 2012, carried an article title “Beware of Identity theft”. 

In this article, I defined ‘Identity theft’ as a crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of personal information such as identity card, credit card, driver’s licence, and passport amongst others, and then uses this information to obtain credit, and or make fraudulent transactions in the name of the victim. 

Identity theft can further be defined as an illegal acquisition and use of someone else’s personal information to obtain money or credit. 

Normally, the signs of identity theft include bills for products or services you did not purchase, suspicious charges on your credit card, or new accounts opened in your name that you did not authorise.

Recently a certain woman walked into a local Bank in Harare and complained to the authorities that there was a surprise withdrawal of money from her account without her knowledge. 

This is typical case of Identity theft, the woman fell victim to an Identity theft scam. 

Thank God, this woman discovered it otherwise many people don’t even know they have been victims of identity theft. Moreso, those with fat accounts will not even discover someone is cashing in on their accounts until large sums of money good enough to raise a suspicion has been withdrawn.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), credit card fraud topped the list of identity theft reports in 2018. The Commission is said to have received more than 167 000 reports from people who said their information was misused on an existing account. 

The DHS NCSAM  2019, indicated that the total number of data breaches reported in 2018 decreased 23% from the total number of breaches reported in 2017, but the reported number of consumer records containing sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) exposed increased to 126%.

Since technology allows us to connect around the world, to bank and shop online, and to control various human activities from our Smartphones, and Identity theft is proving to be a major ‘evil’ or threat to human life in the 21st Century, there must therefore be deliberate close watch or monitoring of personal details. 

Alongside the evolving technology, cybercriminals will employ sophisticated techniques to exploit technology to steal people’s identity and personal information for monetary gain. 

Since fraudsters are changing and modifying their operations and attacks on daily basis by hiding behind cyber space, everyone must be responsible enough to provide water tight security around personal information to minimise and prevent risk of fraud related to Identity theft scams.                                                                                                                                                                          

Get empowered by Fraud Insight and be part of a solution to fraud scams. Watch out for the next issue on Identity theft that will look at and provide various possible measures that one can take to protect self from Identity theft scams.

For your feedback, WhatsApp line: 0772 764 043, or e-mail:[email protected]. Tom Muleya is a Detective Assistant Inspector working under the Criminal Investigations Department, Harare.