Identity Theft In Australia

Today the 7.30 Report investigates the issue affecting millions of Australians’ - identity theft. Currently we live in an age where the technological developments are accelerating faster than the law can keep pace with. The law lags and it cannot ensure the protections of those individuals that are vulnerable to identity theft nor can prosecute those committing this crime. In 2017 alone, identity theft has caused detrimental damage; with 122148 reports being documented, costing $64 862 690(ACCC,2017). I am Dean Baker and I like you have my personal details and use my credit cards. But now all this can be stolen at the click of a button – and you may not even know this is transpiring.

This issue presents many judicial problems and for most

It was found that Westpac made a successful claim for, “deceit and misleading and deceptive conduct under S42 of the Fair-Trading Act 1987,” (Austilli,2017). Whilst the outcome was favourable, this subsequently supports the idea of outdated law and practices fail to adequately prosecute the fraudsters. This has immense effects on stakeholders. David Nockels, Australia Broder Force assistant commissioner reflects on the laws inability to subsequently protect victims of identity theft, stating that, “Once you have your identity is stolen, it’s very difficult to get it back,” (Nockels,2014). This case exposed the lack of protection the legislation provided the defence with against identity theft, and its inability to stop it from taking place in the first

It has some profound economic effects on the government. From an economical orientation, identity theft poses significant economical expenditure to the Australian Government. An Australian Debt Study found that identity theft costs the Australian Government $2.2 billion dollars a year. This comprises of the direct and indirect losses incurred by the Government agencies; and the subsequent cost of identity theft crimes recorded by the police. Money that could be better placed if legislative practices fought this crime with tougher penalties imposed.

Whilst the legislation such as the Criminal Code and Identity Crimes Act have been instigated to deter identity theft, the increase ubiquity of the internet and the poor IT practices of many users leaves society open to this style of crime. Further, because of the nature of identity theft it does not respect the national or international depth of this issue, in turn presenting a problematic situation in enforcing domestic law. It is imperative that a change to the legal system is considered to help reduce identity theft rates and aid in the financial budgeting of the government around this