{"id":1234,"date":"2022-01-28T12:08:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2022-11-09T14:11:54","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T19:11:54","slug":"your-face-is-data-what-can-scammers-do-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/your-face-is-data-what-can-scammers-do-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Face is Data. What Can Scammers Do with it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Cristina Leiva<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How often do you use your face to unlock your phone? Gain access to your bank account? Turn on your car? With the evolution of technology, facial recognition software has become essential in our everyday activities. A simple scan of your facial features can provide access to so much. This realization came to me as a consumer reported an incident where a scammer asked her to download a <strong>facial recognition app<\/strong> and submit a scan of her face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cCriminals who have collected enough personal information on you could commit identity fraud.\u201d<\/p><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/www.equifax.co.uk\/resources\/identity-protection\/facial-recognition-and-identity-risk.html\">Equifax<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your face can be used in crimes,<\/strong> either targeting you or as an accomplice to one. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on synthetic identity fraud<strong>: <\/strong>\u201ca fast-growing type of financial crime where fraudsters use an amalgamation of real and fake information to create a new identity.\u201d Thanks to your facial features, a scammer can bypass facial authentication systems, making the scammer\u2019s face challenging to identify, because \u201cattackers are typically unwilling to use their real face when committing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/faces-are-the-next-target-for-fraudsters-11625662828\">crime<\/a>.\u201d And who\u2019s to say you didn\u2019t commit a crime when your face is all over the issue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are numerous concerns about the <strong>fraudulent activity that can occur because of criminals gaining access to your face<\/strong>. Thankfully there are already a few companies working on this issue:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Apple\u2019s camera projects more than 30,000 invisible dots to create depth maps of a person\u2019s face while also capturing an infrared image of the face making it the most difficult to fool, and it\u2019s also good to note that a user\u2019s Face ID never leaves the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/faces-are-the-next-target-for-fraudsters-11625662828\">iPhone<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Some banks and financial service companies use third-party facial identification services and request additional verification information; if it so happens that the facial ID is not recognized and gets flagged, a human reviewer will take a look and conclude the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/faces-are-the-next-target-for-fraudsters-11625662828\">analysis<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your face can be captured anywhere<\/strong>; all that is needed is a clear image. There\u2019s a lack of privacy on how individuals can gain access to your face because your face can be captured just by walking past a camera outside\u2014you likely aren\u2019t aware of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What can you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Always be careful about who you allow access to your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/files\/2022\/01\/Facial-Recognition-Software-Avoid-Facial-Identity-Fraud-1.png\" alt=\"Avoid Facial Identity Fraud: -Be mindful of where you post pictures of your face online and set profiles to private to help protect your identity.\n-Use two-factor authentication when it\u2019s available-Use facial recognition sparingly and only with companies you know and trust-Do reverse-image searches of your face online to see if it shows up in unexpected places-Monitor your credit report and financial accounts and review for suspicious activity to determine if financial theft is occurring\" class=\"wp-image-1235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/files\/2022\/01\/Facial-Recognition-Software-Avoid-Facial-Identity-Fraud-1.png 940w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/files\/2022\/01\/Facial-Recognition-Software-Avoid-Facial-Identity-Fraud-1-300x251.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/files\/2022\/01\/Facial-Recognition-Software-Avoid-Facial-Identity-Fraud-1-768x644.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/files\/2022\/01\/Facial-Recognition-Software-Avoid-Facial-Identity-Fraud-1-358x300.png 358w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><figcaption>Avoid Facial Identity Fraud &#8211; Tips from the VT Attorney General&#8217;s Consumer Assistance Program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Navigating the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/identity-theft-how-to-guide-5-steps\/\">identity theft recovery<\/a> process can be overwhelming. Vermonters with questions about the process can call the Consumer Assistance Program at 1-800-649-2424 or the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-438-4338.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Content Editor: Crystal Baldwin<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Resources: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.equifax.co.uk\/resources\/identity-protection\/facial-recognition-and-identity-risk.html\">Equifax<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/faces-are-the-next-target-for-fraudsters-11625662828\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welivesecurity.com\/2020\/10\/06\/had-face-stolen-lately-biometrics-data-breach\/\">WeLiveSecurely.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your face can be used in crimes, either targeting you or as an accomplice to one. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on synthetic identity fraud: \u201ca fast-growing type of financial crime where fraudsters use an amalgamation of real and fake information to create a new identity.\u201d Thanks to your facial features, a scammer can bypass facial authentication systems, making the scammer\u2019s face challenging to identify, because \u201cattackers are typically unwilling to use their real face when committing a crime.\u201d And who\u2019s to say you didn\u2019t commit a crime when your face is all over the issue? <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/your-face-is-data-what-can-scammers-do-with-it\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4480,"featured_media":1422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[639516,639517,639523,639524,639468,639477,402199,481474,494301,639522,639514,639521,639520,484616,482450,704866,639489],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dataprivacy","tag-dataprivacyday","tag-protectyourface","tag-protectyouridentity","tag-stopscams-2","tag-takestepstoverify","tag-cap","tag-consumer","tag-consumer-assistance-program","tag-facial-identity-fraud","tag-facial-identity-theft","tag-facial-recognition","tag-identity-theft-recovery","tag-scam","tag-scams","tag-slow-down-and-follow-a-plan-to-not-get-scammed","tag-slow-method"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1535,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions\/1535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}