As we prepare to celebrate Halloween in the US on October 31st, the tradition is also celebrated in other parts of the world at different times of the year and under different names. Halloween is about trick or treating, guising and symbols such as carving pumpkins in the US. Although, most people especially kids excitedly celebrate this tradition on Halloween day, some people practice the Halloween tradition of guising and one-way trick or treating on all other days of the year to rob banks and stores, pretend to be someone else while on the run from authorities by cutting and coloring their hair and undergoing plastic surgery, or claiming to be someone desirable on the Internet by changing their age, gender, picture and name. Some guising and pretexting is innocent and fun while others are malicious such as pretending to be someone else at the bars and streets of Beverly Hills to impress upon others for personal benefit, but other times it is used for committing criminal acts under someone else’s identity which the criminals have overtaken.

On Halloween day, everyone has a choice to become any other person or beast, and as long as we are not entering into some kind of partnership whether it is marriage or business, we can give away candies without any expectation of returned favor. However, if we decide to enter into a business transaction with other people, we have to assume it is always Halloween and everyone may be disguised externally and internally or physically and online. Therefore, we must validate the true identity and intentions of our potential life and business partners which might be hidden beyond their bodily features and digital identity.

Happy Halloween and until next time,
Be identity safe,
Henry Bagdasarian
Identity Management Institute

For your convenience, recent articles posted on the identity theft awareness blog are listed below.

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