“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Fraud Survey 2010-11, an estimated total of 1.2 million Australians aged 15 years and over were victim of at least one incident of identity fraud in the 12 months prior to the survey interview..” (Afp.gov.au, 2014) Identity fraud is a type of fraud that involves illegally pretending to be somebody else for a beneficial gain. This can result in emotional and/or financial devastation. This is a very common legal issue facing Australian stakeholders, costing them a total of $1.4 billion AUD to date (Afp.gov.au, 2014). Identity theft has many consequences and issues that are involved with it. As a result of this, laws have been put in place just for identity theft. Different stakeholder groups have been affected by identity theft and have responded in many ways. In Australia, Around 4.4 million Australians (26 per cent) have now been affected by identity theft (Stevens & Coghlan, 2009). With this large number affected, there have been many cases against the culprits, which will be analysed through this essay. There are solutions to this problem that can be followed to ensure a solution to identity theft.
In regards to identity theft, there are many legal issues that arise as a result of it being started. As stated before, having your identity stolen can be both emotionally and financially devastating. Usually, to steal ones identity, the perpetrator would dishonestly trick the victim into thinking they are a representative of legitimate company (bank, phone company). This can result in credit card fraud, document fraud, or employment fraud, which leaves the victim financially, broke. (Military Libraries Division (DMIL), 2014)
Due to these issues that are a result of identit...
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...t were often over the phone or through email. These people who have been affected by identity theft were so easily tricked that it is a serious issue for other Australians. There can be no solution to stop identity theft as no matter what is done, people will still attempt to steal any information they can from easily persuaded people.
The solution is to make the people of Australia aware of identity theft and make them do their homework and think twice. In relation to the expert opinions given by Siciliano, he says that it is the victim’s job to watch out for any chance of identity theft and lists the ways in which this can be done. This can help to stop identity theft. Not only this, but to increase the prison sentence and to create an individual section of law only for identity theft to have more precise and fair court orders for the seriousness of the case.
Identity theft is something that has been around for some time and it will not be gone anytime in the future. With many of the technology that comes out every year may pose a threat to our privacy and personal information. The harm that an identity theft can cause can be from minor to severe. As a result no one would want to become a victim of an identity theft crime because we would never know if we can even restore everything to its original state. For those that have a dependency on technology, be careful about what you do, what you put on the Internet, what information you give out, this is because it could come biting you back into the future.
Each year around 15 million United States residents are affected by Identity Theft. This causes financial losses of around $50 billion per year. The average amount of money stolen per victim is $4950! That is a lot of money that is just taken from people with little things they can do to affect their identity from being stolen. The most common age group for Identity Theft is 18-24. The 18-24 age groups hold over 20% of all Identities stolen. Did you know that around 6% of adults are affected by Identity Theft? People who steal other peoples Identities are just really rude. Most people work very hard to earn their money and when it gets stolen from them it is just wrong. According to statistic brain the Identity Theft fraud rate is growing very slowly each year, but it needs to be stopped completely.
The United States’ welfare system is designed to help its citizens live regular and full lives with all the opportunities that higher class citizens are exposed to and to help the unemployed look for long-term work so financially, they can become stable. This assistance is very beneficial (especially to the lower class) but annually, thousands of cases of welfare fraud are committed. The poor do not realize that this program does them the favor and is not a requirement by the government. The welfare system is a great assistance to the needy but these programs do not enable the receivers to become motivated to get off the program; instead it makes them more dependent towards the welfare system and receivers tend to want more and more assistance as time goes on. If welfare fraud continues to occur, the United States should let the people that absolutely need it receive their assistance regularly and target those who need it less and make the qualifications for welfare more complicated and tedious so to make it harder for those to receive welfare benefits, to help prevent welfare fraud, and to make people less anxious to apply for welfare if they don’t need it as much.
Identity theft is an increasing epidemic. Some of the ways a person can commit identity
Identity theft has been around for decades, so it’s nothing new. The only difference now is that the general public and the government are aware of the problem and actively pursuing strategies to combat it. However, identity theft wasn’t always about stealing someone’s credit card information or trying to extort large amounts of cash. It began mostly as a political tool to stuff ballot boxes or used by teenagers to obtain fake ID’s in order to get around laws that prohibited underage people from participating in certain activities such as drinking alcohol. In more recent years however, identity theft has become much more sophisticated and advanced. With the help of computers and advanced technology, identity theft, especially through the electronic world, has become easier and easier for criminals to acquire. (FBI) Most people who engage in the illegal act typically use it for economic gain, essentially to get rich. As any crimes go, identity theft is a nonviolent crime that is relatively easy to conceal which attracts more people to at...
The primary use of stolen identities is for credit card fraud which can occur by an offender placing charges on a victim’s existing cards or by opening new accounts in his or her name. A common activity for these fraudsters is to change the billin...
The Internet plays the biggest role in identity theft. On the Internet, a thief can hide from detection while stealing peoples’ identities from their homes, being able to steal peoples’ information one by one “then disappearing into another identity,” (Vacca 60). Internet fraud consists of two phases. The first being spoofing where a fake site is set up made to look like the real thing. Once that is completed the second phase, phishing, begins. This usually starts with an email that uses the
The internet and all technological advances give us easier communication and increase productivity, however, at what cost? The loss of one's privacy. It is okay only when it is violated for one's own protection. There are different reason, good and bad, for the loss in privacy. In 1984 the characters don't have privacy due to big brother always watching,the NSA does more snooping than securing, social media does more than connect friends, and technological advances make our lives easier.
Sullivan, C. (2009). Is identity theft really theft? International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 23(1/2), 77-87. doi:10.1080/13600860902742596
Have you ever received a credit card bill at the end of the month with a ridiculous amount of money needed to be paid that you never spent? This is because of identity theft. The FTC estimates that each year, over 9 million people are affected by identity theft. According to Sally Driscoll, this is because almost anyone with a computer and a slight bit of computer knowledge can pull off identity theft. Experts also claim that identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the world. Identity theft is a global problem that cannot be stopped without effective measures. The problem is, effective measures are very hard to come by when dealing with identity theft because almost any security protocol can be by-passed.
I believe that being a victim is a state of mind and a choice. Yes, we all may be victimized, but how we choose to deal with that, is just that a choice. Having had many experiences of being victimized, I believe that I chose not to let it direct my life in a bad way. I believe that you choose to be a victim blaming that one or even more experience on why you have chosen to wrong things, such as alcohol, drugs and commit crimes. Some women have gone as far as to blame that on why they have become a prostitute.
III. Thesis Statement: Identity Theft is rapidly becoming a national issue because anyone of us could be a victim of identity theft. How we protect our self, keep our information private, identify any signs of identity theft, and report and repair our credit is up to each one of us. We have to be vigilant about our protecting ourselves from criminals.
In conclusion, identity theft is illegal, unethical and very dangerous to the victim. This is because identity theft can cause a lot of financial and reputation damage to the victim and his/her family. It is a shame that there are so many cases of this crime in the world today. Having said all of this, it is really important to prevent identity theft by being careful of your actions. However, as technology is advancing, it is becoming more and more harder to do so. Due to this fact, it is important for each individual to know what identity theft is and what they can do to prevent it from happening. After this is accomplished, identity theft will be minimized and this world will be a better and safer place.
"Identity Theft and Your Financial Life." Daily Record [Baltimore] 23 Aug. 2004, Special to the Daily Record ed.: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 6 July 2011.
Lenard, Thomas I. “Identity Theft Is a Declining Problem.” Cyber Crime. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes.