Identity Theft There are many different types of white collar crime this day in age, but few white collar crimes are as damaging as identity theft. To begin identity theft as defined by Michael Flax (2005) is when someone else obtains and uses your personally identifying information without consent or knowledge to obtain credit cards, wireless phones, loans or mortgages, get a job, or otherwise commit fraudulent or criminal acts in your name, leaving you responsible for the consequences. According to Michael Flax (2005) identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States in 2005 costing victims annually over $5 billion dollars. The topic of identity theft is not small so I will be breaking it down into three major sections. …show more content…
It comes in many different shapes and sizes when it rears its ugly head. In this section I will explain what identity theft is, and then different ways the thief uses the …show more content…
They then take this information and can create their own cards to use. Since most cards now have the magnetic strip this is a very effective way for the thieves to steal someone’s information.
Insider Theft
When insider theft occurs it is because either someone in the organization is stealing and selling peoples personal information, or they are stealing the personal information to use themselves. This is usually due to a lack of strict internal controls that keep people from having access to too many peoples personal information (Hedayati, 2012).
Phishing
Phishing is when someone attempts to acquire pertinent information by pretending to be a trustworthy third party. Many times the thieves use emails, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and other social media outlets to steal or gather personal information (Hedayati, 2012). Additionally, sometimes these messages will contain the actual emblems and colors of a business or company that they are pretending to be. When this happens it is called Spoofing (Hedayati,
In other words, analyzing the mistakes that people make when dealing with their information, can save someone from identity theft. Most identity thieves can get personal information just by simply looking in the trash. Your wallet can get stolen if not kept safely. Anything with information on it such as, credit cards, driver’s license, passports, and health insurance cards, can and will be useful to any identity thieves. Identity theft is a serious crime that can completely wreak your finances, credit history, and reputation.
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.
Identity theft refers to unlawful activities which specifically compromise another person’s identity. According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), identity theft is an activity “in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.” Such personal data can include names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, bank accounts, credit card numbers, or medical records. Identity theft can also be part of or enable other types of crimes such as bank, credit card, document, employment, or immigration fraud; robbery; and burglary, for example (Finklea, 2010, p. 2). Identity theft exists on a continuum with simple unauthorized credit card charges on one end all the way to having one’s identity completely assumed by another.
In most cases identity theft deals with phone, utility, bank and employment fraud. Identity theft can occur in four ways. There is stealing, dumpster diving, skimming and phishing. Stealing is just when someone steals your wallet or takes important information from your wallet. Dumpster diving is when thieves scavenger into dumpsters to retrieve confidential information, like credit card statements. Skimming is when someone uses a skimmer which is a device that retrieves all the data from the magnetic strip on the credit or debit card that you use. Phishing is when an email is sent to someone pretending to be a company, asking a person to update their pas...
How common is identity theft? It is the top consumer fraud complaint. There are an estimated 500-750 thousand victims per year. Different types of fraud that are included in the identity theft crime are identification fraud; credit card fraud; computer fraud; mail fraud; wire fraud; and financial institution fraud. One of the ways this crime can occur is by social security number, they assume an identity, make fraudulent credit charges, get loans, open bank accounts, write bad checks on your account, and commit crimes in a person?s name. Some of the ways thieves get some data is by wallet (you may have left behind), mailbox, or garbage; from insecure financial transactions completed over the Internet; from information left on machines in public; wireless technology such as cell phones; beepers; etc., and some will go so far as going through people?s trash.
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
According to Merriam Webster, identity theft is the illegal use of someone else's personal identifying information (such as a Social Security number) in order to get money or credit. Identity theft has been around ever since banking was introduced to the world, but did not become a federal offense until 1988. Before the Privacy Act was passed by Congress in 1974, people physically carried their social security numbers on them, so identity theft was just as easy as stealing an individual’s wallet. With a person’s social security number, a thief has access to the person’s social security benefits as well as other government services such as unemployment checks (Driscoll).
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.
Identity theft according to Wikipedia.com is the deliberate assumption of another person's identity, usually to gain access to their finances or frame them for a crime. Less commonly, it is to enable illegal immigration, terrorism, espionage, or changing identity permanently.
Sullivan, C. (2009). Is identity theft really theft? International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 23(1/2), 77-87. doi:10.1080/13600860902742596
Identity theft is when someone gathers your personal information and uses it against you illegally.
identity is stolen, you can lose everything, your car, money, house, and credit. It’s very hard to