Identity theft is a situation in which a stranger uses our personal details to impersonate us in various situations in life. In practice, this means that such a person may:

• take out a loan in our name;
• order expensive equipment to be delivered to a collection point;
• call our loved ones pretending to be us;
• obtain further details using the ‘little by little’ method by pretending to be a bank employee, a clinic staff member or a government official.

Most importantly, however, a full set of personal details is not required for such an attack. Criminals very often use only individual pieces of information they have managed to find: first name, surname, address, PESEL number, telephone number, or even a fragment of a prescription or a photograph in which a document happens to be visible. Furthermore, unlike ‘ordinary scams’ (e.g. fake messages), identity theft has long-lasting consequences that are difficult to reverse. Once someone gains access to our data, they:

• may return after a few weeks and try other methods;
• the data may be sold;
• the fraudster may create new fake ‘accounts’ in our name;
• they may try to change our passwords or take over our accounts.