Be careful to protect your personal details in the online world. If you don't criminals may get hold of your information and carry out activities pretending to be you!

Most people are very careful with personal documents such as a birth certificate or driver's licence and keep them in a safe place. You should do the same thing with your personal information online.

Banking on the Internet, shopping online and using email for personal and business reasons can lead to you accidentally revealing too much information about yourself.

Only reveal personal details online to organisations you trust. If your information falls into the wrong hands, someone could use it to impersonate you in order to steal your information, money or assets.

What you need to do…

1. Use a strong password and do not share it with anyone. A random combination of numbers, letters and punctuation, over 8 characters is recommended.
2. Check your billing and account records carefully to detect potential identity theft early.
3. Set up a separate e-mail address for shopping and newsgroups. If you need to, you can then change this address without disrupting online business activities.
4. Only share your primary e-mail address with people you know.
5. Be careful when signing up to mailing lists—spammers use the ‘unsubscribe’ button to validate addresses.
6. Only make online purchases from companies that have a clear privacy policy.
7. Think before you fill out online forms. Ask yourself, “How much information do I need to enter into this site?”
8. Keep a record of what information you've given to whom.

What to do if your identity has been stolen

1. Notify financial institutions.
2. Change passwords.
3. Notify relevant websites.
4. Request a credit report from credit bureaus.
5. Notify the authorities via the Australian Government's ID theft kit (File format: PDF, File size: 2.5Mb), which provides a list of agencies and their contact details.

Further information

The Australian Attorney General’s Department has a crime prevention website with a comprehensive section on identity theft.