Kiwis have really taken to online social networking with around 8 per cent of internet visits being to social network sites. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Kiwis have really taken to online social networking with around 8 per cent of internet visits being to social network sites. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

The people tasked with keeping our online institutions safe say attacks on internet users are increasingly sophisticated as online bankers, Facebook members and Trade Me users come under attack from fraudsters, bullies and identity thieves.

In the last year, 900 reports of misuse of identity involving 400 identities were reported to the police, according to Detective Sergeant David Kennedy, at the National Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.

"It's a fraction of the activity in the New Zealand environment," he said, speaking at the Managing Identity in New Zealand conference held in Wellington this week.

Identity theft is a "breeder" crime, said Kennedy, because it is used to prepare the ground for more serious crime, usually involving financial fraud.

"Documents and transactions are used to breed further documents and transactions."

As people go online to bank and communicate with Government departments, the threat of identity theft is growing.

A counterfeit passport is the ultimate ticket for the identity thief, said Mimi Giaccherini, an investigator at the Department of Internal Affairs who is also completing a thesis on identity management at AUT's Institute of Public Policy.

Despite the introduction of anti-counterfeiting measures like biometrics, fake New Zealand passports can still be bought in some countries and they are intricately made.

"Just one spot of glue reacting under ultraviolet light could give the game away," she said.

"For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons."

A passport could be used to gain a driver's licence, open a bank account, apply for a loan and get an IRD number - all things which legitimise a person's existence in society.

Ron Watt, head of fraud at BNZ, said the bank's two-factor authentication system NetGuard had eliminated most online banking fraud as customers were required to enter a code from the back of a security card as well as their username and password to log on to their bank account.

But other fraud attempts were rife - the BNZ identified 504 suspect transactions last month alone and identity theft is a common trait. Over 50 per cent of fraud cases are related to unauthorised debit and credit card transactions.

"As a bank, our product is money and what do 95 per cent of the bad guys want? Money," said Watt.