Survey finds one in four Aussies had their personal information misused

Shopping sprees using stolen ­credit card details have declined as identity thieves increasingly try to ­extract money by lodging fraudulent tax returns or accessing superannuation funds.

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Shopping sprees using stolen ­credit card details have declined as identity thieves increasingly try to ­extract money by lodging fraudulent tax returns or accessing superannuation funds.

A national identity fraud survey also found identity fraud is on the rise and one in four Australians have had their personal information misused.

The latest Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) report using the survey information says while some victims lost money, others were wrongly accused of a crime, forced to take legal action to clear debts ­incurred by others, or refused government benefits.

The AIC estimated the impact of identity crime and misuse in Australia to be around $2.7 billion.

Identity thieves are now trying to extract money by accessing superannuation funds.

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Phishing, where people are tricked into giving their passwords and other details, and technical subterfuge like the secret installation of “crimeware” on personal computers to intercept personal identity data, were among the most common ways criminals stole information.

However, personal details were also obtained in face-to-face meetings such as from job interviews or fake doorknock donation appeals, and from data breaches involving the ­accidental release or hacking of commercial and government records.

The AIC report examined theft of names, address, date of birth, driver’s licence and passport information, Medicare, fingerprints, bank and credit card accounts and usernames and passwords.

The report was based on a 2017 identity crime and misuse survey which questioned 9947 people about data breaches.

The report found shopping sprees with stolen credit card details have declined as banks have improved their response times to unusual ­transactions.

Instead criminals are turning to ­attempting to lodge a fraudulent tax return and pocket the claimed refund, or are trying to access money held in superannuation funds.

Shopping sprees with stolen credit cards have also declined. Picture: iStock

The report found a “substantial reduction” in misuse of personal information to purchase something, with a 13.3 per cent decrease compared with the previous year.

Instead, the proportion of respondents reporting their personal information had been used to file fraudulent tax returns or obtain superannuation money had increased.

“Misuse of personal information in connection with filing fraudulent taxation returns and obtaining access to superannuation moneys increased substantially in 2017 compared with 2016,” the report said.

“The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) estimated between January and August 2017, 29,000 people reported receiving phishing scams and lost a total of $1.6 million.”

The report found there was an increase in identity theft or misuse of 4.6 per cent on the previous year.

The most common type of information that was misused was a person’s name, followed by credit/debit card details, address, date of birth and bank account passwords.