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I was contacted on a world wide exchange and chat site, on which the contactor (disguised as a normal, friendly person) wanted to be friends. They gave me their mail address. In their first e-mail they asked me about myself and I gave them my name, my date of birth, a photo, my nationality and my interests. With their next e-mail it got clear that it was a scam. Now I'm scared of what comes next. What can I do to prevent an identity theft? What can they use these information for? I am slightly panicing here...

Note: This question is different and no duplicate to the question referred to as duplicate, since I am asking about the possible consequences of giving away date of birth in combination with further information.

  • Given all of the above could probably be found out on Google/Facebook anyway with minimum effort, I probably wouldn't worry – ScottishTapWater Jul 29 '17 at 07:33
  • Yes, but I'm not signed up on any social network. They could easily create a fake account. –  Jul 29 '17 at 08:33
  • Why would they? Seriously, unless your bank's security is weak enough that they could get through with just your DoB and name you probably have nothing to worry about – ScottishTapWater Jul 29 '17 at 08:42
  • I'm not so much worrying about a bank account, but an account on facebook, etc. This is a matter of ruining my identity (reputation). Is this reasonable or slightly paranoid??? Theoretically, they have all freedoms in this respect now, because you don't need much to create such an account, maybe e-mail address, but since I corresponded with them per mail they know it, too. –  Jul 29 '17 at 09:40
  • @HarmlessPsycho, if that's what you're worried about, keep doing (perhaps you can script it) a reverse image search for the image that you gave them. And set up a [Google Alert](https://www.google.com/alerts) on yourself like `"harmless psycho" site:facebook.com`. – Jedi Jul 30 '17 at 03:20
  • @Jedi: Thank you so much! That's really helpful, I will do that! –  Jul 30 '17 at 05:37

1 Answers1

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The identity information you revealed can be used for multiple purpose.

  • Impersonation

They might use it to impersonate you by making a fake ID card potentially to gain access to places where only you are authorised to.

  • Financial Frauds

They would try to find out other factors which are absolutely necessary for a financial transfer and take the money. For eg: just the account number and routing number of an account along with basic contact information is required for a preauthorised wire transfer in the United States. So the only missing piece of information they need here would just be your bank account number.

  • Word Dictionary

People tend to use passwords which they can always remember. Usually related to their demographics. It is likely to include their name, place or DOB in the password. In case of a password attack, the attacker can use your personal information to create an effective dictionary list of passwords.

hax
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  • Thank you! What about commiting the same scam using my name? Should I report this incident to the police, just in case they commit a scam using my identity? –  Jul 29 '17 at 16:15