The third one is identity theft, which involves stealing someone’s personal information, such as their name, address, Social Security number, or financial details. Cybercriminals obtain personal confidential information using emails or texts to use them and pretend to be that individual in getting access to banks or scamming people using the victim’s details. Cybercriminals can acquire this information through hacking, phishing, or data breaches. They can then use the stolen identity to make unauthorized transactions, apply for loans, or commit other fraudulent activities, causing financial and reputational harm to the victim (Al-Khater, Al-Maadeed, Ahmed, Sadiq, & Khan, 2020). Such scammers often use a story, such as alerting the victim about suspicious activity in their account. That will lure the victim into clicking a link allowing the cybercriminals to access the details.
