Here are few tips to prevent identity theft

A: There are not any exhaustive foolproof lists but there are a couple of things people can do. One is, while spending on credit card or debit card, just ensure that the swiping happens in front of you. Lot many times one just handover the card and then the person takes it to the till and does it. So, be aware of that. Second is if ever one receive any kind of small-small expenses being charged, do not ignore that. Many times people are not very particular. They do not go through item by item when it comes to the bills and then suddenly the big expense comes up. If one is going to make some purchases on net, ensure that the website is fully protected because that is another thing that has been observed. Just trying to get something cheaper people do not go onto main websites, which are secured websites and then the data gets captured. One’s documents lying idle. I have seen many times that when one is traveling, he or she does not hold the bank statements, passports, pan cards carefully. One is not keeping it in secured manner and if there is a loss then they do not report immediately. These are certain precautions that one can take.

As far as credit card is concerned while travelling abroad there are certain banks, which give the facility. Usually, I refrain from commenting on particular banks but Citi Bank is one, which has this facility that if one is travelling abroad one can inform them the countries he or she visiting and dates and tell them that if there will be any transactions anywhere else besides these countries then he or she be informed about the transactions. I personally have had that experience where once I returned back from Thailand, I got a call from Citi Bank asking if I am back in India as per my schedule because they found that somebody was spending on my card in Thailand. I told them that I am back in India. Therefore, they blocked my card and they issued me another card. So, if one is travelling internationally please inform the concerned credit card company about the countries and dates. These are certain precautions that one can take and be careful while spending on online.

People travelling to Southeast Asia have this problem. So Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, I do not know about Vietnam but couple of those countries, South East and Far East has lot of credit card thefts happening. Even at the time of capturing the credit card details there are point of sale (POS) machines, which are fake machines, so if they swipe your card instead of that card being linked to the institution’s server, it is linked to somebody else and the entire data is captured. So, one need to be sure in which store one is using or which hotel one is staying and where one is swiping the card.

Caller Q: Is it possible that identity theft can be done on my insurance policy? If yes, what kind of protection would you advise?

A: We have not heard of those. I do not know if it is happening internationally whereby a fake person acts as Gaurav Mashruwala and takes a policy in my name and then make false claims. Thankfully, we have not reached that stage. If your concern is that if your policy matures for example it is an endowment or a money back policy or if your health claim money has come in and somebody fraudulently cracks your bank account and takes it. That is possible.

However, per se we have not heard of fake insurance policies being bought with the wrong identity. So, that has not happened as yet, I have not heard of that. In terms of are there any insurance covers to protect theft? No there are not any. Card loss and all you can inform and there are protections but if somebody has stolen your identity and purchases on your behalf, I have not heard of any foolproof insurance policy whereby you get protected against identity theft.

Q: A lot of these smart phones now tend to have these apps, which the banks themselves provide but where you need to put in a lot of your details in order to do transactions from your phone itself. Do you think that is safe at all because there are so many issues about the phone getting hacked, the phone getting stolen etc? Do you think it would be prudent to put in your details there?

A: We are going towards a technology where there is hacking. In terms of people manipulating, even we had physical cheques there used to be forged signatures happening. Those things have always happened. When new technology comes in, new ways of transactions, new kind of hacking and new kind of frauds happens. However, as long as one is careful, one is ensuring that it is one’s bank, which has sent the app and one is downloading it and one is spending on it then one is careful.

I have also seen people careless. They would kind of log in their details from a public cybercafé or something. Do not do that because there your information can be captured. So, avoid those things but otherwise if one is downloading an app from a bank and using it, the chances are less.