Fraud from data breaches – the real threat

As with many data leaks and incidents, fraud from data breaches is a real risk that could affect the victims. This could be the same for victims affected by the Virgin Media data leak.

Even a little information can go a long way, and criminals are becoming increasingly clever when it comes to the tactics that they use to try to steal and exploit personal information. Take it from a leading firm of consumer action and data breach lawyers – if your personal information is ever exposed, you need to be vigilant.

The risks are very real!

How can fraud from data breaches occur?

Fraud from data breaches can cause a significant amount of suffering and can cause financial losses and costs for those affected. There can be many ways in which a person can suffer some form of fraud that can arise directly as a result of a data breach. Ultimately, if your personal details have fallen into the hands of criminals, they could exploit it to try to steal money from you, or take out finance in your name.

Let’s say that your name and passport information are exposed in a data breach. If a criminal gets hold of that, they could take out a loan or a credit card in your name online. This could then cause distress when companies start coming after you when a problem arises, and it could adversely affect your credit score.

Now let’s say that just your name, telephone number and email address are leaked. Most may think that this could not lead to an incident of fraud or theft – but it still might. Even a little information can go a long way, and it could act as a gateway to then try to obtain more information about you, or allow a criminal to hack into your accounts. They could try to break into your email account and, if you have ever legitimately emailed a copy of your passport to a company, now they have a copy of it. Or, if you re-use passwords, they could try to break into accounts based on who you get emails from.

They could even try to contact you with a phishing scam if they cannot even access your own accounts. They could email you and ask you to reset a password or log in to a legitimate-looking copycat website, and now they have a password you use. They could even ask you to provide financial or ID documents and you may think that you are dealing with a real company.

In short, there are many ways you can fall victim to fraud from data breaches, and people need to be wary of the risks.

Could it happen to Virgin Media data leak victims?

Victims of the Virgin Media data leak could also fall victim to some form of fraud. The above could apply in terms of phishing scams or attempts to break into accounts. For those whose exposed personal data also included details about requests to unblock explicit websites, they could be blackmailed.

It can all depend on who the exposed personal data has ended up in the hands of. With the Virgin Media database exposed for a period of ten months, the risks are very real.

As we said earlier, fraud from data breaches can arise even where just a small amount of personal data has been compromised or exposed. It can happen, so the risks are real.

Claiming compensation in the Virgin Media Group Action

We are representing thousands of victims who were affected by the Virgin Media data leak on a No Win, No Fee basis. If you are one of the 900,000 victims who have yet to start your data breach compensation claim, you can do so no quickly and easily here.

The content of this post/page was considered accurate at the time of the original posting and/or at the time of any posted revision. The content of this page may, therefore, be out of date. The information contained within this page does not constitute legal advice. Any reliance you place on the information contained within this page is done so at your own risk.