Identity theft has become increasingly common thanks to the vast amounts of personal information that quite a few people are comfortable with sharing on social media and the like. The consequences of having your identity stolen can usually be quite dire, with 40% of victims being unable to pay their bills and 33% not even being able to buy food that would help them get through the month.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a concerning trend has emerged that has revealed that a lot of people that have gone through identity theft end up going through the same thing all over again. This comes from research conducted by Atlas VPN which was based on Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), and it revealed that exactly 29 percent of victims have gone through the crime more than once which might have something or the other to do with their lack of seriousness with respect to their online privacy.
While it might be easy to think that they are not responsible for having gone through the same thing twice, there is data that proves that they might be to blame. When asked what they did to take precautions after having their identity stolen, only 71% said that they stopped putting personal information out on social media platforms which explains why the remaining 29% might have their identity stolen multiple times possibly by different malicious actors.
There is a strong likelihood that this occurs as a result of lack of awareness or action. Many people do not know what steps need to be taken in order to protect themselves from various crimes, and they end up being irresponsible in that regard by failing to take the necessary steps to keep themselves safe. Suffice it to say that people need to be educated about what they should do otherwise this statistic will stay where it is.
Read next: There Are Over 1,200 Online Phishing Toolkits According to This Study
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a concerning trend has emerged that has revealed that a lot of people that have gone through identity theft end up going through the same thing all over again. This comes from research conducted by Atlas VPN which was based on Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), and it revealed that exactly 29 percent of victims have gone through the crime more than once which might have something or the other to do with their lack of seriousness with respect to their online privacy.
While it might be easy to think that they are not responsible for having gone through the same thing twice, there is data that proves that they might be to blame. When asked what they did to take precautions after having their identity stolen, only 71% said that they stopped putting personal information out on social media platforms which explains why the remaining 29% might have their identity stolen multiple times possibly by different malicious actors.
There is a strong likelihood that this occurs as a result of lack of awareness or action. Many people do not know what steps need to be taken in order to protect themselves from various crimes, and they end up being irresponsible in that regard by failing to take the necessary steps to keep themselves safe. Suffice it to say that people need to be educated about what they should do otherwise this statistic will stay where it is.
Read next: There Are Over 1,200 Online Phishing Toolkits According to This Study