What do you do if your Identity is stolen/misused?
Before I begin this article, I'd like to make it abundantly clear that I am not a lawyer or hold any legal authority to tell you what needs to be done. This is written to provide a generic guideline on how to react to an incident where such an unfortunate circumstance occurs and you start panicking. Do not panic.
You answer a call from an unknown number (digits may or may not appear depending on your ISP provider's network setting). From the moment you say hello, you quickly learn that someone has been using your credentials to send packages from/to geographical locations that have nothing to do with you or there has been fraudulent transactions in your bank accounts. When your voice tenses up, the caller then proceeds to push the message home by stating your full name and mobile number. Sensing the panic in your voice, they then ask you to verify your personal identifiable information (PII). It is highly likely that you are new to this type of a conversation and you provide them with this sensitive information. It goes downhill from here.
A word of caution. No institution, official or otherwise, will ask you for your personal information over a telephone call. All the more less likely, ask you to click at a link or provide a PIN that comes to you as a text message/SMS on your phone as you are on the call from the spoof caller who is a conman trained in human psychology of phishing information. Emails are another mode of communication which has been used to steal credentials - these are more commonly talked about for awareness. When you get a call, however, you are put on the spot to respond.
For UAE, it's recommended you activate the 4 digit PIN on your Emirates ID card. More about it here: https://icp.gov.ae/en/id-card-benefits/pin-and-activation-mechanism/ Once this is done, you now have a 3 factor authentication in place - your fingerprints, PIN and the ID card itself which has a chip in it. Multifactor authentication mechanisms deter identity theft.
If you lose your Emirates ID card or suspect that it has been stolen, report the incident at the nearest ICA Customer Happiness Centre. Carry a valid document for identity confirmation so that the center can deactivate the card immediately. You can also ask for the issuance of a copy of your lost Emirates ID card. If you need to report a damaged card, you will also need to bring your old card.
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For India, the Aadhaar card does not receive or store any information such as bank account or PAN or SIM, during linking or verifying any of the services with Aadhaar. The data including biometrics is encrypted by 2048 bit encryption key at the time of enrolment, transit and thereafter at storage making it close to impossible to break this encryption key by brute force.
If you lose your Aadhaar card or suspect that it has been stolen, report it to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) immediately. Contact the UIDAI helpline or visit their official website to report the loss and request for a new card. Also Make a police complaint at the closest local police station/cyber cell.
More on how:https://myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/retrieve-eid-uid
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