What is Identity Theft Identity –based crimes are considered to be one of the most significant and growing problems of the last 20 years due to the significant economic harm these offenses pose for victims(Holt & Turner, 2012). Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal identifying information. This can be attributed to weaknesses in the structure in which personal information flows in society (White, 2005).This information may consist of the person’s social security number, name address, or driver’s license number. One of the old ways of obtaining this information was going through the victim’s mail or pretending to be a telemarketer to obtain personal information. Since the advancement of technology criminals have also improved the ways they steal your information. One of the improvements is the “swiper”. This technique works by making a copy of the person’s credit card information when the person presents it to purchase something. The next step is transferring the information to a fake credit card for the criminals own personal use. Thanks to the internet criminals may also remotely access your computer and still your information all from the comfort of their homes or anywhere in the world. Once this information is obtained the thief can use this information to buy themselves a few nice things all paid for by you, while in the process of ruining your credit.
Statistics and Identity Theft Crimes
The average number of U.S identity theft victims annually is 11, 571, 900 and the total financial loss attributed to identity theft in 2013 is 21 billion dollars (Identity theft/fraud statistics, 2013).Identity theft does not discriminate against age, race, or income. Anyone can be affected by identity theft. The most vulnerable age group to this crime ranges from age 18 to 24; followed by the age group 35 to 49. The most reported cases of identity theft involve financial motivation (Perl, 2003). Identity theft falls into three categories: financial identity theft, non-financial identity theft, and criminal record identity theft. Financial identity theft is the category that our paper will be focusing on. Non-financial identity theft involves telecommunications and utilities fraud or using the victim’s information to get government documents. This can be used to enter the country illegally or plan and execute terrorist attacks. Criminal record identity theft is basically the criminal using an innocent person’s clean record, meaning the person does not have a criminal record, to dodge being arrested.
Identity theft is continuously growing crime, and over the past several years we have seen a rise in the victimization of juveniles in the horrendous crime. Three important terms which are addressed in this research (that are important to know and understand) are identity theft, juvenile, and victimization. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, identity theft is defined as “the unauthorized use or attempted use of existing accounts, or unauthorized use or attempted use of personal information to open a new account or for other fraudulent purposes (Harrell, 2013).” Juvenile refers to children, typically persons under the age of 18. Victimization means to make victim of someone or to harm or commit a crime against someone. It is important to understand these terms to understand the full purpose of the following research of juvenile victimization in identity theft (Woods, 2014).
In modern days, there is a type of crime that is growing very fast. It has become a very popular crime because it’s easily done, and it doesn’t leave a big trace, whether the crime is successful or not. The crime in question is Identity theft. Identity theft is a crime that involves a person or group pretending to be someone else for their own personal wants. The criminals use personal financial information such as social security number, bank and card information, your address and other personal information. According to the Insurance Information Institute, 15.4 million U.S. consumers have been victim to this crime, amounting to a loss of $16 billion, making it the most growing crime
Identity Theft is a severe and important issue that needs more recognizing than is currently has now. Identity Theft is when mean people go around and try to steal your Identity. If they are successful and have stolen your identity they can buy items and you will be charged. They can also ruin your credit history and reputation with your Identity. Identity theft happens every day and many people are affected daily. If your identity gets stolen it may take years to get all your stuff back. It may even cost you money to fix it! This will tell you everything you need to know about Identity Theft and hopefully we can put a stop to it.
Today Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission, identity theft victim complaint database currently contains more than three hundred thousand complaints. American consumers reported losing over one billion dollars to fraud overall in 2014, according to the Federal Trader Commissions annual report on consumer complaints released earlier this year, with the average cost ranging between five hundred dollars to two thousand dollars per victim (Federal Trade Commission, 2014). According to the 2011 Identity Fraud Survey Report, approximately eight million adults in the United States were victims of identity theft with the total cost of thirty seven billion dollars (Britz, 2013). The Federal Trade commission strongly urges people to take action in protecting themselves from Identity Theft because everyone is at risk of this rapidly growing crime no matter your age, race, gender or current financial situation. Identity Theft when a illegitimate person gains access to your personal information, such as your Social Security number, credit card account information, your mother's maiden name, your driver's license number, and other important information to impersonate someone. When the criminal has gained the information they need, they have the ability opens credit accounts, cellphone accounts, and other types of credit based accounts in your name. In addition once a person’s information is stolen the criminal then has the ability to access current accounts that is possessed, leading to even further damage to personal finance and credit.
In the fall of 1998, the rampant rise in electronic credit card fraud led congress to pass the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. This act prohibits, “ knowingly transfer[ring] or us[ing], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another p...
Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in both the US and abroad. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that identity theft costs consumers as much as $50 billion annually and that this number will likely keep growing (Finklea, 2010, p. 1). Additionally, the FTC receives in excess 250,000 consumer complaints of identity theft each year and this is believed to be only a fraction of the total number of victims (Finklea, 2010, p. 9). There are several types and methods of identity theft and these methods continue to increase as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. Understanding the types and methods of identity theft can reduce potential victimization.
I’ve decided to write my research paper on the issue of identity theft. Identity theft has occurred all throughout history in various ways and forms. Today, it is one of the fastest growing crimes occurring all over the world. Data suggests that identity theft accounts for roughly $50 billion stolen each year from citizens and businesses in the U.S. I believe that more attention should be targeted towards identity theft because of the detrimental effects it can have on a single victim and on our nation’s economy. Topics I will discuss include statistics about the crime, laws that protect the victims of the crimes, and what we are doing to prevent future attacks from happening.
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
Identity theft is an increasing epidemic. Some of the ways a person can commit identity
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.
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.
Sullivan, C. (2009). Is identity theft really theft? International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 23(1/2), 77-87. doi:10.1080/13600860902742596
The methods that criminals use to get identity from people are always changing. There are 3 particular categories that these methods can be divided into.The first category is information given away. This method is referred to as the easiest way to steal someones identity. This occurs when people simply just give away information like their address to strangers or when they are not safe online and their personal information can be accessible to anybody.The second category is known as offline methods.This category includes techniques like: dumpster diving, shoulder surfing, wallet or document theft, bogus phone call, skimming, pretexting and business record theft. The third category is refereed to as online methods. This includes ...
Lenard, Thomas I. “Identity Theft Is a Declining Problem.” Cyber Crime. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes.
America,” (Weidenfeld 1). Being the number one crime, identity theft is very dangerous. If your