What is identity theft?
Identity theft is a crime in which an impostor steals your identity by obtaining key pieces of your personal
information, such as your credit card, driver's license, social security or other personal identification numbers. It is
one of the world's fastest growing crimes both online and offline and it is extremely costly and devastating to victims.
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Identity theft is categorized in two ways: true name and account takeover. With "true name" identity theft, the thief uses the information to open new accounts. The thief might open a new credit card account, establish cellular phone service, or open a new checking account in order to obtain blank checks. With "account takeover" identity theft, the thief uses the information to access existing accounts. Typically, the thief will change the mailing address on an account and run up a huge bill before the person whose identity has been stolen realizes there is a problem. The Internet has made it easier for identity thiefs to use the information they have stolen because transactions can be made without any personal interaction.
Identity theft is usually the result of serious breaches of privacy and identity thiefs use a multitude of attack vectors – phishing emails, rigged Web sites, Trojans, spyware, keylogger software – to get hold of your personal information online. But you also need to be aware when you're offline; retrieving personal paperwork and discarded mail from trash dumpsters is one of the easiest ways for an identity thief to get information.
Police across the world have warned that they have great difficulties keeping up with cybercriminals as the number of identity theft cases grow and the cases get bigger and bigger:
In June 2007, French National Police arrested four people on online fraud charges as part of an undercover investigation into the activities of an online criminal known by the alias "Lord Kaisersose". Investigators found more than 28,000 stolen credit- and bank-card numbers as a result of this operation and fraud losses associated with this investigation have exceeded $14 million.
In July 2007, the U.S. Secret Service arrested four Florida residents for allegedly taking part in an organized fraud syndicate that bought hundreds of thousands of credit-card numbers from groups on the Internet, created counterfeit credit cards from the stolen information, and used the fraudulent credit to rack up more than $75 million in purchases.
In August 2007, five men were charged in New York, Michigan, Texas, Florida and Kentucky with stealing $1.5 million and attempting to steal another $10.7 million from their victims' financial accounts.
According to research firm Gartner, about 15 million Americans were victims of fraud that stemmed from identity theft from mid-2005 until mid-2006. The average loss of funds in a case of identity theft was $3,257 in 2006, up from $1,408 in 2005. Additionally, identity theft victims are also recovering less of the lost cash. In 2005, an average of 87 percent of funds were recovered; in 2006, that had dropped to 61 percent.
In the UK, it is estimated that more than three million online crimes – or one every 10 seconds – were carried out in 2006. These numbers include more than 90,000 online identity theft incidents and more than 200,000 cases of financial fraud.
Basic prevention helps to prevent identity theft. Protect your computer against viruses, spyware and keyloggers using updated security software and do not give out any personal information in response to unsolicited e-mail. Experts also recommend that you regularly check your credit report with major credit bureaus, follow up with creditors if your bills do not arrive on time, destroy unsolicited credit applications, and shred or burn bank statements or other personal paperwork that you want to get rid of.
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