Suraj Daru
Mr. Totaro/Mr. Wray
Financial Literacy
8/2/17
Identity Theft Essay
“An estimated 15.4 million consumers were hit with some kind of ID theft last year” (Sullivan, 2017). Although identity theft has become a huge problem domestically, many people are still careless about the safety of their personal information. People are still unaware of the dangers that these thieves pose, and the many methods that they use to gain personal information to gain financial assets. Although identity thieves have a variety of tricks up their sleeves to get one’s financial information such as dumpster diving and utilizing phishing scams, there are many ways to avoid loss, some of those being shredding important personal documents and purchasing an
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To begin with, shredding all of my personal documents with my information on them is a must, after my business has been finished with them. If found by a thief in the dumpster, this could lead to my identity being stolen. Secondly, I will be wary of strangers in my house that come to sell a particular product. This is because if my wallet is stolen, the thieves will have access to my credit card information and much more. Also, I will install anti-virus software that will detect fraudulent website that are posing to be real, “Keep virus and spyware software up-to-date on your laptop and home computer and use firewall software for protection” (Sullivan, 2016). This will protect me from falling to phishing scams over the internet. I will frequently check my mailbox, and report any suspected missing documents that I think might have been stolen by thieves. Some thieves may also change the billing address of my credit card. As Robert Siciliano, a cyber security and identity theft expert states, “...watch for change-of-address notices in your mailbox. If you stop receiving credit card statements, call the company” …show more content…
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Identity theft has been a major issue of privacy and fraud. In the data breach analysis from the Identity Theft Resource Center (2013), the number of data breaches from the year 2005 to 2012 increased. In 2012, there had been 49% where the data breach exposed people Social Security Number. The data breach of 2012 has a rate of 27.4% caused by hackers. These breaches were commonly from 36.4% businesses and 34.7% health and medical (Identity Theft Resource Center 2013). The number of identity theft varies from physical possession to digital possession. At least one-fifth of trash cans contains papers listing people’s credit card number and personal information. People that throw away their trash mails contain much personal information that is useful to steal someone's identity (Davis, 2002). Technology becomes a need where people use it daily and as a result it has also become a use for identity theft as well. Throughout the years as technology develops so does identity theft. This paper shows the types, methods and technique used for identity theft, and it also examines possible risk of identity theft from current technology.
Writing in the Writing Disciplines, 11(3), 387 – 396 Felipe, S. (2010). Social Security and ID theft. New York Publishers, 1 - 125
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...
Credit cards are something that are almost needed in everyday life now, as most dont have the money available to purchase a car or house and so need credit, thus needing credit cards to help build that credit. Those cards are hard to handle, and receiving applications in the mail daily, and commercials appearing on television don’t seem to make the struggle of staying away any easier. This starts to spark an interest. So people begin to think, "I think I 'm responsible enough to get a credit card, I 'll only use it for emergencies." Then the application process begins and it may take a couple times to finally be approved for one. This only makes it worse, of course, because realizing how long a credit card wasn’t applicable to life, but now
Homelessness is a condition of people without a regular residence. People who are homeless are usually unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure, and adequate housing. Homeless people constitute a demographically diverse population, and the situation is a critical problem in United States. The homeless are known as “the wondering poor”, “sturdy beggars”, and “vagrants”. This condition often occurs due to poverty, but this is only one of many reasons a person can be homeless. In addition to poverty, homelessness occurs as a result of drugs, mental illness, disasters such as hurricanes, or even domestic abuse. It is not a criminal activity.
In today’s world, we are all in some way connected to or involved with the Internet, it is really hard not to be. We all use different services that we feel either augment our daily lives or make them more pleasurable every day. We all take a sort of deceitful comfort in the basic inconspicuousness of the Internet. When we think about it, could it end up being the single biggest risk to our own safety? Most people don’t take the threat of cybercrimes as seriously because unfortunately they don’t realize just how life altering these threats are, until it’s too late. There are many types of cybercrime being committed daily that everybody needs to protect themselves from such as identity theft and fraud.
"The Cost of ID Theft, Part 1: Beyond Dollars and Cents." Commerce Times: Business Means Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Journal of Internet Banking & Commerce, 18(2), 1-11. Retrieved from http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/jibc/. Sullivan, C. (2009). The 'Standard'. Is identity theft really a theft? International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 23(1/2), 77-87.
Over the last ten years people in the United State and around the world have heavily relied more on their debit or credit cards to process transactions of their purchases. In the old days it used to be when you would get your paycheck on Friday and rush to the bank during your break or lunch in order to cash withdraw your funds or deposit them into your account. It used to be where you carry cash to buy groceries, pay bills, and go shopping. Now some people don’t even set foot inside their bank branch because they are paid using direct deposit or the funds are loaded into a debit card provided by their employer. Many employers from around the globe don’t even issue paper check anymore. Bills are often times paid online, babysitters are accepting electronic payment such as PayPal and even food trucks now take electronic payments. According to a Washington Post column by Michelle Singletary society and businesses embrace using cashless ways to pay for things than the old time traditional “cold hard cash”. In my opinion there should still be cash circulating out in the world. My first ...
Driscoll, Sally. English, Marlanda. "Identity Theft: An Overview." Points of View: Identity Theft (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
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.
Dyke, Van, and Albrecht W. "Identity Theft." U of NEBRASKA–LINCOLN. U of NEBRASKA–LINCOLN, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
America,” (Weidenfeld 1). Being the number one crime, identity theft is very dangerous. If your