Identity Theft, one of the worst crimes that could happen to someone without them even knowing it. Identity Theft is subtle and sometimes can go undiscovered for lengthy amounts of time. The Bureau of Justice Statistics says “An estimated 17.6 million Americans—about 7% of U.S. residents age 16 or older—were victims of identity theft in 2014” (Harell). As Identity fraud is subtle, it is harder to find evidence that it could be happening. Luckily, there are ways to detect it. A way to detect identity theft is if “The IRS notifies a victim that more than one tax return was filed in their name, or that they have income from an employer they don’t work for.” (Identity Theft Recovery Steps). Identity theft is a major problem that most people do …show more content…
The use of government identification is used from buying alcohol to applying for a job. If the identification is stolen, the criminals now have access to these items, while using the victim’s money. Criminals that conduct identity theft have even been known for buying items such as a new driver’s license! The most thought of form of identity theft is from credit cards. These types of theft can be stopped the quickest, if the person is active in checking their accounts for unauthorized transactions. Some purchases, like purchasing furniture may have the bank calling you to make sure you are authorizing that purchase, as it is a more expensive purchase. Many cases of identity theft, have no financial loss. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) states: “From 2005 to 2010, the percentage of all households with one or more type of identity theft that suffered no direct financial loss increased from 18.5% to 23.7%.” While there may have been some out of pocket expenses to help get everything back to normal, these cases are less severe than the other ones stated so far. While identity theft can be a great burden, these cases can be solved within a day. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that “Half of identity theft victims who were able to resolve any associated problems did so in a day or less.” …show more content…
Prior to 1998 there was no federal crime for identity theft. As such, most of these criminals didn’t go to jail for the actual theft, but instead for the branch crimes that may have resulted from the theft. Extreme cases of identity theft convinced congress to make identity theft a federal crime. The simplicity of stealing identity is surprisingly simple. The Department of Justice says that “shoulder surfing” or watching victims from a nearby location as they punch in a victim’s telephone number or credit card number”. People who commit identity theft can do more that look over the shoulder. Other ways they can get information is by intercepting mail left out in the open and by using scam e-mails. Scam emails are emails that offer a prize or benefit by just providing personal information to them. Emails can also come from lost siblings, kidnapped princes, and more odd scam emails. As ridiculous as these emails can be, they trick millions of people
Identity theft is the fraudulent acquistion and use of a person private identifying information, usually for finacial gain. Identity theft can happen to anyone, it can happen several different ways. A lost or stolen wallet which has personal information in it, credit cards, mail that has been thrown away, and over the internet. Your personal information can also be stolen from stores you shop at, your doctors office, or even your childrens school. Identity theft can cause problems upon a person such as financial problems, credit issues, problems with the law, and legal problems. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. Over nine million people have been victims. This problem needs to be solved because there are millions of people in the United States whose lives ruined from this crime.
Figuring out if an identity is stolen is not easy only because it can be unknown until damage is dealt. This is why identity theft isn’t easy to stop. When most people report a crime, police arrive on the scene before serious damage is dealt, but when a thief steals a person’s identity, the victim can be unaware for quite some time before they realize the amount of money they lost. According to Tracey Whittaker and Anne Dilascio, in 2003, the average money lost from identity theft per person was $4,789, but in 2006 the average was less than $2000. The average out-of-pocket cost of identity theft victims in 2005 was
Identity theft is when someone, without the consent of the owner, dishonestly uses, or intends to fraudulently use another individual’s personal identity. Personal identifying information can consist of an individual’s name, date of birth, driver’s license number, mother’s maiden name, state identification number, telephone number and other personal information that an individual can be identified with, such as a birth certificate or Social Security number. People who commits this form of fraud is committing a third-degree felony. Proceeding through the system as a victim of identity theft can be an extensive and confusing process. It is important for individuals to keep track of the actions they take and retain a record of their progress, as they contact law enforcement, financial institutions and creditors. If individuals make any decisions regarding their case or decide to talk to investigators without counsel’s advice, they may hurt their opportunity to defend themselves against any identity theft charges.
Identity theft is a particularly heinous crime as it impacts so many people and brings such a burden upon the global economy. During 2012, in the United States alone, more than sixteen million people had their identity stolen and the financial impact reached nearly 25 billion dollars (Rotter, 2014). Expectations are that costs will exceed one hundred billion in the United States and globally the ramifications will be multitudes higher.
Identity theft is when someone steals or takes your personal information using it without your permission and can damage your finances, credit history and reputation. The different forms of identity theft include social security identity theft, financial identity theft, driver’s license identity theft, criminal identity theft, medical identity theft, insurance identity theft, synthetic identity theft, tax identity theft and child identity theft. Social security identity theft is one of the most common because the social security number is one of the most valuable government based identity asset and American can possess. When someone steals it, they can sell it to undocumented workers or use it to steal properties. Using your social security
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America now. As the world grows, there are more and more opportunities to steal identities. When thieves steal personal and financial information it ruins the victims credit score and can sometimes leave them feeling emotional. The government has put in some programs to help decrease identity theft. Although identity theft can probably never be eliminated, there are some ways the government can decrease identity theft even more.
Introduction: Your heart pounding, hands shaking, body quivering. To the regular public, this may sound like a medical emergency. But, to identity theft victims, it’s their lives shattered, pieces broken! Identity Theft includes the utilization of another person’s valuable information such as driver’s license number, social security number, and even social media passwords. Such a crime impacts someone’s finances and even reputation.
One takes a chance on identify theft every time one surfs the Internet, search Web sites, and send emails. Furthermore, one only needs to read the daily newspaper to see another headline regarding a prominent company data breach. I often think about stolen identify scenarios when I check my bank statement online, or pay a bill online. I have had my Visa credit card account stolen even as I had the card in my purse. Someone used the account for about a month and I normally don’t open my statement when it first arrives. But I did that particular month and noticed unauthorized charges. Needless to say I way not a happy camper! It takes effort and time to get those types of things straighten out. There are several legislation on the books regarding
The effect that identity theft has on those who have been the victim are a lot of headaches and heartaches of repairing their names and their credit history once they have been a victims of such act. According to an article on identity theft victim static’s inform, there have been 12,521,448 and 15 million in the united state that has been victims of such act. The financial losses total has been expanding to 50 billion
In today's society, there is a white-collar crime that has greatly risen in popularity among criminals. This crime is identity theft. Hundreds of thousands of people have their identities stolen each year. Identity theft is when these criminals obtain and use consumers personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, insurance information, and social security numbers to purchase goods or services fraudulently. According to the Federal Trade Commission, over 1.1 million people were the victim of identity theft. With this number, it is very evident that identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in our country. This paper will attempt to more thoroughly define identity theft. It will
Identity theft has been around for many years, and is a method of stealing another person’s identity. The person who steals the identity then pretends to be the person whose identity they have just stolen. This is done to get the persons credit card information, their resources, and their benefits. The victim of the theft can have everything in their life taken from them, and it is not an easy crime to prove. Sometimes, the person uses that newly attained identity to commit other crimes, which then can get the victim in even more problems. Identity theft can lead to identity fraud, leading to the misappropriation of the person’s identity. With the modern technology of today identity theft has become a lot easier. With firmware, spyware, and viruses identity theft has become easier than ever, apps and programs like these will take a lot more than a person’s credit card information. However, identity theft is not as simple as one may think; many types of identity theft that affect people every day.
For instance, the Westfield Bank of Ohio interprets identity theft as “fraudulently obtaining a person’s confidential identifying information” and identity fraud as “abusing this stolen information to falsely transact personal business in the victim’s name.” The DOJ explains, “Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. Unlike your fingerprints, which are unique to you and cannot be given to someone else for their use, our personal data, especially your Social Security number, our bank account or credit card number, your telephone calling card number and other valuable identifying data, can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. All parties agree that the crime “can wreak havoc with your finances, credit history, and reputation,” in the FTC’s words, “and can take time, money and patience to
Identity Theft might just be the most problematic social and economic problem in the US. Identity theft can cause many problems for the victim and the thief, obviously. One problem is the victims personal record, it is extremely important to have a clean one if you want to apply for college, buy a house, become a citizen, etc. Another problem is after the identity theft has taken their toll, the victim is suffering with trying to recover all the money that they have lost. And the most dangerous problem is victims can be accused of crimes that they have not committed. These are just a few reasons why Identity Theft is the most problematic social and economic problem in today’s society.
Identity theft can be don’t by a lot of different ways. It’s not just through digital word. It can also be done physically. Stealing someone’s credit card or wallet is also a kind of identity theft. Thief’s can steal wallets which contains credit cards or debit cards, valuable information like social security or bank information. Another type is they can watch other people keying in their password of their ATM card. The most common type is they would get your credit card number or the ATM number. This valuable information allows them to use those cards for the purchases. They can use it anywhere. The FBI reports that since 2005, hackers have stolen 140 million records from US banks and other companies. It’s a growing crime currently. Victims can have a lot of damaging effects of this. It directly effects your credit score and because of that it’s hard to get a new credit card or to get a lone approved, its’ also hard to buy any property, job application rejection. A lot of damages can occur because of identity theft.
One of the worst and most widespread crimes is identity theft. Such thefts where individuals’ Social Security and credit card numbers are stolen and used by thieves are not new. Criminals have always obtained information about other people—by stealing wallets or dumpster digging. But