Protect against Identity Theft

Identity theft is, well, theft of your identity. Protect against it by safeguarding your identity. Thank you. The End.
Now, did that even qualify as a blog? It did say things that were correct, but made no sense to anyone. So, yes, it qualifies.
 

If you are wondering why your usually staid Qadit blogger is trying her hand at some weak humour, then wonder no more. She is only trying to laugh off the year that was since she didn’t fulfill any of her new year resolutions from last year. We will now don our standard staid avatar and give you the lowdown on whatever it is that we are trying to tell you.
 
We are trying to tell you about the identity theft scenario in India. We will let you read about what general identity theft elsewhere on the web.
 
Is identity theft happening in India?
Yes. All those cases we hear about facebook accounts being taken over by an ex-boyfriend to take revenge fall under this category. These kinds of identity thefts cause reputational damage and is much more painful to endure and come out of.
 
Is this the only kind of identity theft that happens in India?
No. Card related identity theft also happens. Your card details may be stolen and used for card not present transactions (over the internet) or using your information (your information is found using a variety of methods – you divulging the information yourself, dumpster diving, skimming, wallet theft or online methods like phishing etc) the miscreants may apply for a new card/ loan. You will learn about it only when you are asked to pay the bill.
 
I use a debit card issued by my bank for withdrawing funds from my ATM only. Should I be worried?
Even if you use your card only to withdraw money from an ATM, there is a possibility that your card details may be stolen – ATM skimming is used to steal information. What you can do is look for anything unusual in the ATM, something stuck, remnants of glue etc. If you find anything like this, do not use the ATM and inform the bank. Similarly, whenever you type your PIN, use your other hand to cover the PIN as small cameras are fitted to capture your PINs. But, all said and done, it is very difficult to detect very cleverly designed skimming devices.
 
If my card is cloned and money withdrawn, will my bank compensate me?
They are supposed to. The RBI constituted the Damodaran Committee to look into banking services rendered to retail and small customers, including pensioners and also to look into the system of grievance redressal mechanism prevalent in banks, its structure and efficacy and suggest measures for expeditious resolution of complaints The committee has recommended that
 
“There should be a secure total protection policy / zero liability against loss for any customer induced transaction utilizing technology through ATMs/ PoS/Online banking etc. A customer should not be made to be out of funds when any loss is suffered on account of Net/ATM banking transactions. ”
 
Axis bank is known to have compensated customers who were victims of ATM skimming.