Essay On Identity Theft

Identity theft is the stealing and use of someone’s personal information and is one of the fastest growing crimes in the nation (Dole, 2005). According to Federal Trade Commission estimates, identity thieves victimize approximately 10 million Americans every year at a cost of an astonishing $50 billion (2005). Identity theft has been going on for years now and is easily done with the help of today’s technology. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are six common ways that identity thieves get a hold of personal information. The varieties of methods that are used are dumpster diving, skimming, phishing, changing the victim’s address, stealing, and pretexting (Federal Trade Commission). Once someone’s identity is stolen,

True name, identity theft means that the thief uses personal information to open new accounts. The thief may open a new credit card account, or even establish a cellular phone service in your name. Account takeover, identity theft means the imposter uses personal information to gain access to the person’s assisting accounts. The thief will change the address on the account and run up a huge bill before the persons whose identity has been stolen realizes there is even a problem. Consequently, the internet has made it easy for a person’s identity to be stolen because the transaction can be made without asking any personal information. Retrieving personal paperwork and discarded mail from trash dumpsters (dumpster diving) is one of the easiest ways for an identity thief to get information. Another popular method to get information is shoulder surfing-the identity thief simply stands next to someone at a public office, such as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and watches as the person fills out personal information on a form.

Becoming the victim of identity theft is never something that is a pleasant experience. Along with the fear regarding the actual event, there is also the aftermath that must be considered. It can sometimes take years to completely see the full effects of identity theft, but by learning more about the different types, it is much easier to get started making repairs.

In American society, there a fast growing white-collar crime that is becoming more and more popular among criminals. This white collar crime is call identity theft. Thousands of people have their identities stolen every year. Identity theft happen when criminals get a hold and use other people persona information such as credit card numbers, bank accounts numbers, insurance information and social security number to purchase good and other services fraudulently. More than 9 million American are victimizes by identity theft each year. With this number being so high it is evident that identity theft is one of the fast- growing crimes to hit the United State. Three reason why identify theft if being such a fast- growing crime in the United State is because more people credit card information is being stolen, more people are shopping online and more medical information is being stolen.

Identity theft is a fast growing white-collar crime that is gaining the notoriety of an epidemic. There is a wealth of information on identity theft and prevention yet this area of crime is developing rapidly and is shrouded in myths.

     Identity fraud is use of a persons name, social security number or other personal identifying information. Once armed with this information the thief can open accounts and rack up huge debts for goods and services. These criminals also open up various accounts ranging from cell phones to bank accounts. Once these accounts are established they don’t pay the bill

Identity theft involves gathering valuable information retaining to an individual in order to make a financial gain out of the process. This’ll usually involve the attacker having to open a bank account in the victim’s name and ask for a new credit card for the account. They can then withdraw as much money as they please from the account before the victim can do anything. In 2014, 47% of American adults had their personal information stolen by hackers making identity theft the largest cybercrime to date. According to the U.S Justice Department, every 3 seconds someone becomes a victim of identity theft. Over $18 billion had been stolen as a result. Identity theft comes from hackers or scammers either convincing victims into giving up personal

The number of people that have experienced identity theft has been increasing rapidly. Identity theft is when one’s personal information, including social security number, credit card number or even name is stolen and is used for economic gain. A person’s identity could be taken at any time or place, and it could happen without them knowing about it. Once a person’s identity has been stolen, there are not many things they can do about it, and resolving it might take a couple months, if not years. According to “Fending Off Identity Fraud” by Danielle Britni, in 2012 alone, 16.6 million Americans were victims of some type of identity theft. In this article, the author explains multiple ways of protecting one’s identity, as well as a way of keeping

The most common depiction of identity theft is the robbery of personal information for someone else’s monetary gain. Based on a range of information gathered from public and private resources, “Approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year (Douglas).” Although literal identity theft can have substantial monetary consequences for its victims, figurative identity theft can have even greater ramifications for those that suffer from having their individuality, identity and self-confidence taken away from them.

Question: What actions are taken by the perpetrator and victim for identity theft to occur and thus what measures should be put in place to combat this issue?

The first thing is, what identity theft is. Identity theft is a term that is used to refer to

Medical identity theft is when someone that does not have health insurance claims to be you in order to use your personal information to get medical care, like surgery or get prescription drugs. The really bad part is that this type of theft is hard to prove. Also this false information could become part of your medical record. Synthetic Identity Theft is when is when a completely new identification is created using bit and pieces of different people’s information. For example, they may use one person’s social security number and another person address and the use someone else’s name. This type of crime is hard to detect, since the information really doesn’t make anyone information. Criminal identity theft is when someone gives law enforcement someone else information when pull over and taken to jail. They are then release and then go on about their business and the person’s whose identity was stolen is held accountable. This individual may not be aware of this until they are perhaps pulled over in a traffic stop. The last form of identity theft I would like to discuss is identity cloning. This is when someone

The less sophisticated thieves have perfected the art of “dumpster-driving” rummaging through trash. Abusing employer’s authorized access to credit reports or some even playing ‘landlord’ has given them unauthorized access to victim’s reports. Some victims have been scammed fro information by an identity thief posing as a legitimate businessperson or government official. In the most recent news from Concord, NC (Aug. 19, 2004), the police have uncovered a more sophisticated case of ID theft. The newspapers stated, “Authorities think a portable credit card reader, or skimmer, was used to read personal information off a credit card’s magnetic strip. Then those details were applied to the strip on the back of a different cared.”

As one can see, stealing someone?s identity is a very easy thing and can also be done in a number of different ways.

Identity theft affects millions of Americans every day. Scam artists and hackers lay in wait for an unsuspecting person to get caught up their scheme through ignorance or naivety so they can take full advantage of their personal information to do as they desire with it. Problem is, it infiltrates and depreciates the integral infrastructure of our society which creates a cultural lapse through the declination of economic and cultural growth and double jeopardizes an already unstable system to the brink of its destruction. To understand how