100,000 victims of electronic identity theft

Nearly 100,000 New Zealanders have been victims of electronic identity theft in the past 18 months.

Thousands more have been sent offensive or threatening emails.

Most internet users have had equipment infiltrated by computer viruses, worms or spyware -- and could unknowingly be part of a "zombie army", sending spam to thousands of other computers.

The alarming findings are revealed in a major Justice Ministry survey on e-crime, which aims to shed light on the extent of cyber-related criminal activity in this country.

Internet watchdog groups say the study highlights growing dangers around internet use, identity theft and cyber bullying, and the need for people to act to protect themselves and their families.

"They get your personal files, they can impersonate you, they can use your computer for stuff. That's certainly a concern," technology commentator David Farrar said.

Cellphone users have also been targeted by e-criminals. Many had received highly offensive calls or texts, threatening or harassing messages, and offensive or pornographic pictures on their phones.

About half of all internet users say they fear credit card fraud as much as they do having their car stolen, or being burgled or hit by a drunk driver.

The New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey asked 5400 people aged 15 and over during 2006 if they had been the victims of different forms of e-crime in the last 18 months.

Based on the findings, 93,000 Kiwis (3 per cent of respondents) had suffered identify theft such as personal information being accessed and misused over the internet.

The survey did not ask about problems that arose after identities were stolen, but a similar US study showed some two-thirds of victimised households suffered monetary loss.

Identity theft in the United States is estimated to cost businesses $64 billion a year.

The Government here is setting up a new Organised Crime Agency, run by police, which will tackle organised crime such as drugs, money laundering, cyber-crime and identify theft.

An Upper Hutt teen who police sent on a computer course to improve his behaviour later used his parents' home computer to access people's bank account and log-on details online in a bid to steal $45,000.

Although many internet users feared on-line credit card fraud, Farrar said banks usually covered resulting monetary loss thanks to "pro-customer" policies.

The biggest concern was e-criminals accessing personal computers with viruses or "trojan" horse programmes, he said.

Updated computer security applications such as firewalls, anti-virus and anti-spam filters were people's best defence.

"If everyone secured their computer, a lot of the other problems would go away."

NetSafe executive director Martin Cocker said as people's online worlds grew, so did the importance of understanding risks associated with e-crime and taking steps to mitigate them. He suggested using different passwords and log-ins for important online accounts and not visiting risky websites or clicking on suspect links that might contain viruses. --Dominion Post

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