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The government is working very hard to fight against identity theft. Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act to help people who have been a victim of identity theft. This act helps to prosecute suspects that have committed crimes dealing with identity theft. Suspects can get anywhere from 15 to 30 years when it comes to identity theft. Identity theft includes credit card fraud, identification fraud, computer fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, or financial institution fraud. Not only do these suspects go to prison, but they have to pay the money back, and anything that is gained in the while committing the crime will be seized. The government works very hard with other agencies to help prosecute crimes that involve identity
Identity theft is a major concern today in our country, millions of a person’s identity have been compromised for many of years. Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person’s personal information such as name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, credit card number, or other identifying information to take on that person’s identity in order to commit fraud or other crimes. Stealing an identity is, unfortunately, surprisingly easy to do and happens when you least expect it. Just by opening your mail, something that has personal information on it, throwing it in the trash. Therefore, a person can go through your trash and take all that information and use it against you to take on a new identity.
In 2014, there were an estimated 2.3 million cases, a twenty-two percent increase from the previous year (Andrews, 2016). According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft complaints have also increased by more than 47 percent since 2014 and it was the second most reported crime after illegal debt collection. (“FTC Releases Annual Summary of Consumer Complaints Debt Collection, Identity Theft, and Imposter Scams Remain Top Categories of Complaints Received by FTC in 2015”, 2016) “The 2017 Identity Fraud Study, released by Javelin Strategy & Research, found that $16 billion was stolen from 15.4 million U.S. consumers in 2016, compared with $15.3 billion and 13.1 million victims in 2015. In the past six years identity thieves have stolen over $107 billion.” (“Identity Theft and Cybercrime”,
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.
Identity theft is an issue faced on a daily basis for those that are living in our wonderful state of California. For some it is common knowledge to protect your identity but for those that are not familiar with the practices of these common crooks, will cost a lifetime of savings and irreparable damage to ones credit and finances. According to the California Office of Privacy Protection, “there were more than 11 million victims of Identity Theft in the
Identity theft is a significant problem to both citizens and financial institutions. The FTC estimates that over 27.3 million Americans have been the victims of identity theft in the past five years. The
Our government is doing a better job of assisting citizens when it comes to identity theft but there is much more to do. Below are my findings.
Mandatory restitution and fines of a very significant amount should be implemented along with lengthy mandatory prison sentences. Anyone convicted should also have all of their assets seized with a significant portion of them to be forfeited as part of their penalties. Identity theft will never be stopped but hopefully, if the penalties are such that the perpetrator risks losing more than they could hope to gain from the crime maybe then we could see a decrease in the number of identity thefts.
Prior to 1998 there was no federal crime for identity theft. As such, most of these criminals didn’t go to jail for the actual theft, but instead for the branch crimes that may have resulted from the theft. Extreme cases of identity theft convinced congress to make identity theft a federal crime. The simplicity of stealing identity is surprisingly simple. The Department of Justice says that “shoulder surfing” or watching victims from a nearby location as they punch in a victim’s telephone number or credit card number”. People who commit identity theft can do more that look over the shoulder. Other ways they can get information is by intercepting mail left out in the open and by using scam e-mails. Scam emails are emails that offer a prize or benefit by just providing personal information to them. Emails can also come from lost siblings, kidnapped princes, and more odd scam emails. As ridiculous as these emails can be, they trick millions of people
Dr. Deming, identity theft is when someone steals your personal information such as your social security number or name (Brown, DeHayes, Hoffer, Martin & Perkins, 2012). Once the theft obtains one’s information, one uses it to create a fraudulent documents such as credit applications, income taxes, and other items. These actions can damage your credit and it cost one money and time to restore their name to good status. There are different type of identity theft that can occur. Those are: child, tax, medical, senior, or social theft (Kess, Grimaldi, Revels, 2017). When clearing your name of identity theft, one must contact each vendor where fraudulent activity has occurred. Also, one must report it to the proper law enforcement and the federal
Identity theft is the fastest growing fraud crime in America (Finklea, 2009). Gaining knowledge in preventing theft will better the economy and lower the crime rates in America. There are reported 9.9 million victims of identity theft and this number is increasing rapidly as the years go on. It has been reported that an estimate of fifty billion dollars has been charged to our consumers every year due to identity theft (Finklea, 2009).
By definition “Identity theft n. the dishonest acquisition of personal information in order to perpetrate fraud, typically by obtaining credit, loans, etc., in someone else's name; fraud perpetrated in this way. ” (dictionary.oed.com, 2007). It’s estimated that 9 million Americans have had their identities stolen each year. “According to the Secret Service, its investigations show a jump in potential losses due to identity theft, from $851 million in 1998 to $1.4 billion in 2000.” add citation from how stuff works There are many ways that thieve steal your identity, they may go through your trash, steal your wallet or purse. I will discuss a lot of the different ways in more
There is currently a huge growing number of criminals that now do greater and more widespread damage to their victims without ever meeting them. Identity theft surfaced in the early 1990s and turned peoples everyday transactions into a data gathering game. Bits of personal information such as bankcards, credit card accounts, income, social security numbers or just someone name, address, and phone numbers are now collected and could be used illegally by these individuals without anyone’s knowledge.
Identity theft is on the rise in the United States and Globally. The Federal Trade Commission advised that there are about nine million cases of identity theft. People who had their identity stolen often feel like they were violated. Any individual can have their identity compromised in numerous ways. Different institutions store personal information. There are several organizations that have social security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers. Colleges and Universities have people personal information stored in their databases that could be hacked. There are several companies that offer options to people to protect their identity. Most credit card companies offer the option of identity
Identity theft affects millions of Americans every day. Scam artists and hackers lay in wait for an unsuspecting person to get caught up their scheme through ignorance or naivety so they can take full advantage of their personal information to do as they desire with it. Problem is, it infiltrates and depreciates the integral infrastructure of our society which creates a cultural lapse through the declination of economic and cultural growth and double jeopardizes an already unstable system to the brink of its destruction. To understand how
How do you secure your identity with the Internet developing faster than can be protected? Attempting to stay ahead of the hackers and attackers has been a contentious effort since the Internet’s earliest days as a research project. Today, after thirty years of prolific development, security concerns have only increased. Designing computer systems and devices which are capable of resisting attack from within, while growing and evolving at an epidemic rate is almost an impossible endeavor. Today, identity theft is the nation’s fastest growing white collar crime and preys upon the financial resources and reputations of its victims to include children and deceased. In many