Category: Identity Theft

Introduction

The phenomenon of identity theft has been a problem for a while, having mostly been known as faking signatures for most of its history. However, with the evolution of technology, identity theft has taken the form of stealing peoples personal information and using it to break into their bank accounts or hijack their financial data (Wadhwa & Arora, 2017). Although multiple tools have been developed to address the identified cybercrime, it remains a problem. Therefore, strategies for managing it need to be researched.

Reasons

Due to the lack of awareness of the drastic effects that the mismanagement of personal data may entail, people expose their personal information to cybercriminals quite often, which means that identity theft may become more common. Due to the challenges in locating the person who used ones financial information, tracking down the perpetrator becomes incredibly complicated. Thus, research addressing possible prevention measures and management strategies are overdue.

Recommendations

It is highly advised that the problem of identity theft be researched by looking at some of the most common tools for preventing it and educating people about the significance of ensuring that their information is kept secure (Bressler & Bressler, 2017). Moreover, the sources of data leakage will have to be investigated in the course of research to define the approaches that will help to disseminate the knowledge about identity theft prevention among general audiences (Irshad & Soomro, 2018).

Summary

The problem of identity theft has become much more pronounced in modern society, where personal data has become highly vulnerable to criminals due to online exposure and gaps in online security. Therefore, both the problems in the current framework for keeping personal information safe and the promotion of technological awareness among the target audience have to be researched. Once the factors that facilitate the vulnerability of personal data are identified, methods for containing it in safer environments can be created.

References

1. Bressler, L. A., & Bressler, M. S. (2017). Accounting for profit: How crime activity can cost you your business. Global Journal of Business Disciplines, 1(2), 21-30.
2. Irshad, S., & Soomro, T. R. (2018). Identity theft and social media. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 18(1), 43-55.
3. Wadhwa, A., & Arora, N. (2017). A review on cybercrime: Major threats and solutions. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 8(5). 2217-2221.

Identity theft is what occurs after a person illegally obtains anothers personal information and makes use of it for his own purposes like purchase goods or obtain services under that persons name. This crime is the fastest-growing white-collar one in the United States today. It is costly to its victims, businesses, or consumers alike. The whole crime is simple. Once they have in their hands the personal information they require, then they could pretend to be the person whose identity they stole. Once they did that, they could now start running up bills or obtaining benefits that are allocated for that person only. (Beaugard, 2003).

This is an enabling crime, or in other words, its a crime that aids in the actualization of other crimes. These crimes may range from passing bad checks to ripping off credit card companies to more serious terrorist attacks. Fraudulently obtained and/or mishandled SSNs, birth certificates or driver licenses are the means for identity hoaxes. Getting just any of these three, the other remaining two would be rather easy to obtain already (OCaroll, 2003).

The Internet just makes everything much faster and much more possible for this crime to proliferate. It only takes several mundane steps to complete the whole process of this crime. First off, these would-be offenders search the Internet. Input find Social Security numbers in the search box in search engines and there would be as many as 65 identity sites that would come up. These sites would obtain the number of a person one seeks for a small fee relatively. Fast and quite cheap, the internet enables these thieves to become armed with a name and social security number, and voila, they could now apply for credit cards, take out loans or make unthinkable purchases (Marlin, 2000).

Many of the officials confirmed that Internet growth had indeed increased the opportunities for criminal activities. Concerns had long been raised regarding the risks associated with these computerized database services, an industry that is extensively used by both the private and public sectors to find and verify someones identity (US GAO, 1998).

The Internet offers unmatched opportunities for those in search of a new identity. One of the anomalies of Internet use is that online, sincerity and credibility of identity are difficult to confirm. This leads to both the internet users being a little bit careless with regard to their personal information when they are online than they would be in real-life situations. Some websites may even exist solely to take advantage of the desire of various people for information about other people. These information brokers provide information about an individuals medical records, bank details, credit rating, criminal record, driving license, and vehicle registration documents for a fee. In short, everything that the fraud needs to decide on a victim and misuse his or her identity is readily available on the Internet (Finch, 2003).

The Internet search engines also exemplify unparalleled speed and accuracy that make sure that all the references to a specific individual can be accumulated within a matter of seconds, accelerating the time the criminal needs in order to choose a victim well. If not through the internet, the criminal who would choose someone to steal from would have to go through a meticulous search into the victims background, using up a lot of time and effort. With the internet, this information is just a few keystrokes away and this could be done at the comfort of the criminals home. The Internet provides identifying information through both illegal and legal means (Finch, 2003).

The criminals using the internet have the luxury of anonymity when engaging in theft through the internet. Furthermore, a sense of unreality may be felt throughout the process, since when they shut down the computer, everything may seem as if had not happened, the crime just left inside that box. Moreover, there is an ease with which users can create multiple identities online, adding to the sense of freedom they feel from the limitations of everyday offline life (Finch, 2003).

Therefore, to reduce this crime, information handed over to the internet should be better regulated and protected. There are three classifications of identification information. The first one is something produced as a means of identification. An example of this is the passport. Secondly, something an individual only knows such as his mothers maiden name or the assigning of passwords. Lastly and much more personal, identification is based upon the physical characteristics of the individual. This is the use of biometrics such as an individuals fingerprints, DNA, and retinal images (The Use of Technology to Combat Identity Theft, 2005).

The first two maybe not be that effective and still vulnerable to misuse. There is no guarantee that documents and cards would not be lost and some information not to be forgotten, and resulting in inconveniences for both the individual in question and the institution affected since it has to issue replacements. Not only that, but they are also receptive to being stolen or duplicated. Equally, knowledge can become known to others and be abused, either alone or along with cards and documents (The Use of Technology to Combat Identity Theft, 2005).

Biometric systems avoid many of these complexities abounding these other methods of identification. These systems are exclusively linked to a particular individual and are extremely difficult to reproduce. Biometrics, as briefly mentioned above are based upon some physical attribute that is more or less particular to the individual. As such, it cannot be stolen and misused by fraud. Fingerprinting is mostly used. This method had been employed to determine the identity of offenders since the end of the nineteenth century and has recently, become a tool for some countries in controlling immigration. Computer systems that can keep and recognize fingerprints made the identification process faster and more accurate (The Use of Technology to Combat Identity Theft, 2005).

Aside from fingerprints, there is the method of hand geometry. It is a voluntary scheme that allows participants to circumvent the usual airport procedures and reduces the processing time to a mere 20 seconds. Participants are required to establish their identity in order to be part of such. The palm of their hands is scanned and the image is kept on a smart card. At the airport, the passenger would just have to insert the card into a terminal then scan his or her hands, for the purpose of checking this with the image stored upon the card. The system is highly accurate and can also be instrumental in other situations needing speedy and accuracy in establishing identity (The Use of Technology to Combat Identity Theft, 2005).

Any system that links identifying information permanently with a particular individual has the chance of eliminating identity theft as well. Since biometrics is highly unique to an individual, the likelihood for them to be abused would seem to be nominal. Nonetheless, the dependability of any system of identification based upon biometrics could be spoiled by the weaknesses of a registration system relying on documentary identification. Biometrics has clear advantages over alternative systems of identification. They are incapable of being taken advantage of by impostors as they are linked to a single individual. Few have the same biometric identity. That said, it has a lot to offer as regards reducing the prominence of identity theft. However, there are also disadvantages that cannot be set aside. First of all, these schemes are expensive to develop and implement.

This should not pose a serious impediment to their use due to the potentially immense financial benefits of reducing fraud but that does not make the issue less important. If they are too costly, then the smaller organizations would be restrained from using such. However, the possibility for function creep, where forms of identification are adopted for different originally unplanned purposes, is a more pressing cause for concern. The existence of a relatively highly dependable scheme might create irresistible temptations on the part of authorities to apply it widely, and inter-relate many separate collections of personal information. It seems likely that the introduction of a presumably unassailable biometric identification system could soon be adopted by a range of institutions until it became the default means of establishing identification (The Use of Technology to Combat Identity Theft, 2005).

All biometric techniques had their distinct strengths and weaknesses in terms of different criteria like accuracy, cost, and user-friendliness among others. By combining two or three of the different techniques, the effectiveness of ensuring against identity fraud is increased.

Biometrics may extract more from its patronizers since they would have to become more intricate and meticulous as with the information being exchanged through the internet. The verification process of ones personal information becomes for sophisticated and more regulated. It may also induce higher expenses from organizations. But knowing the level of complexity of identity fraud and how the internet makes it so easy to commit, more sophisticated and more highly dependable protection is needed to reduce this. Biometrics may be the best answer to identity fraud yet.

References

Beaugard, Christopher. (2003) Identity Theft: A Violent Nonviolent Crime. Rutgers Cooperative Reseaerch an Extension pp.1-4.

O Carroll, Patrick P. (2003) The Homeland Security and Terrorism Threat from Document Fraud, Identity Theft and Social Security Number Misuse. US Senate Committee on Finance pp.1-5.

Marlin, Adam S. (2000) Online Theft a Growing Concern. The Industry Standard. Web.

Identity Fraud: Information on Prevalence, Cost and Internet Impact is Limited. (1998) US General Accounting Office pp. 1-67.

Finch, E. (2003). What a Tangled Web We Weave: Identity theft and the Internet. In Jewkes (ed.), Dot.cons: Crime, deviance, and identity on the Internet. (Collompton, England: Willan.) pp. 86-104.

The Use of Technology to Combat Identity Theft (2005) Report on the Study Conducted Pursuant to Section 157 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 pp.1-117.

Introduction

The phenomenon of identity theft has been a problem for a while, having mostly been known as faking signatures for most of its history. However, with the evolution of technology, identity theft has taken the form of stealing peoples personal information and using it to break into their bank accounts or hijack their financial data (Wadhwa & Arora, 2017). Although multiple tools have been developed to address the identified cybercrime, it remains a problem. Therefore, strategies for managing it need to be researched.

Reasons

Due to the lack of awareness of the drastic effects that the mismanagement of personal data may entail, people expose their personal information to cybercriminals quite often, which means that identity theft may become more common. Due to the challenges in locating the person who used ones financial information, tracking down the perpetrator becomes incredibly complicated. Thus, research addressing possible prevention measures and management strategies are overdue.

Recommendations

It is highly advised that the problem of identity theft be researched by looking at some of the most common tools for preventing it and educating people about the significance of ensuring that their information is kept secure (Bressler & Bressler, 2017). Moreover, the sources of data leakage will have to be investigated in the course of research to define the approaches that will help to disseminate the knowledge about identity theft prevention among general audiences (Irshad & Soomro, 2018).

Summary

The problem of identity theft has become much more pronounced in modern society, where personal data has become highly vulnerable to criminals due to online exposure and gaps in online security. Therefore, both the problems in the current framework for keeping personal information safe and the promotion of technological awareness among the target audience have to be researched. Once the factors that facilitate the vulnerability of personal data are identified, methods for containing it in safer environments can be created.

References

1. Bressler, L. A., & Bressler, M. S. (2017). Accounting for profit: How crime activity can cost you your business. Global Journal of Business Disciplines, 1(2), 21-30.
2. Irshad, S., & Soomro, T. R. (2018). Identity theft and social media. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 18(1), 43-55.
3. Wadhwa, A., & Arora, N. (2017). A review on cybercrime: Major threats and solutions. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 8(5). 2217-2221.

Identity theft is an act of stealing someone elses identity with the intention of accessing resources or any other benefits that may come from using the victims name. People or even organizations can be faced with adverse consequences should they fall victims of these identity fraudsters.

Identifying the connection between the identity fraud and the data breeches is always a very hard task since it is never easy determining how the theft was executed. An unpublished study by Carnegie Mellon University affirms that in many cases, the reasons for identity theft are never identified but chances of falling victim to identity theft stands at around 2% (Michelle, 2000).

With the advent of technology, identity theft has been made even much easier to the fraudsters. Hackers now have access to very malicious software and applications. There even exists such application as interested in credit card theft? This reveals the ease with which the identity thieves can access all sorts of information online.

An example of an identity theft is the case of Abraham Abdalla of Brooklyn, also known as the bus boy. He went online to access peoples private financial details. The victims included among the wealthiest people in America. He even had Oprah Winfreys and Steven Spielbergs credit cards and financial information.

However, his days were numbered and he was caught while he was attempting to make one of the largest transactions. It was referred to as a software giant. This and a multitude of various other cases occur every other day.

How would you protect cooperate executives from fraudulent acts against them?

Cooperative executives are at a great risk of falling victims to identity theft. This is so majorly because of the largesse that they always hold in the form of personal and organizational resources. This may consequently lead to large and even irrecoverable personal and organizational losses.

Before coming up with ways and measures of curbing identity theft that may be targeted on the executives, it is necessary to identify the modes and means by which the theft may be executed. It is also very important to note that fraudsters begin by obtaining personal and confidential information of their victims. Thus, it is vital to note some of the ways in which personal identifiers may fall in the hands of the fraudsters.

In order to obtain the confidential information, the identity thieves may apply various acts. One of the acts include rummaging through rubbish at dumpsites to access dumped documents which could containing their target victims information or rather  in this case  the executives information. These are the so-called dumpster divers.

Redundant IT equipment may also serve as a rich source of information to the fraudsters. These equipments may include, amongst many others, storage media such as flash disks and other memory sticks, hard drives and mobile phones. All these equipments, when carelessly disposed of, may be the genesis of grave problems.

Identity thieves can also observe as someone types their login details in an attempt to log into their private sites in publicly situated IT devices such as computers or even ATMs. The identity thieves, in order to obtain confidential data, may also use sophisticated means such as the hand held card readers that are able to skim through and avail details from a credit card (Austin & Carr, 2002).

To retrieve confidential data online, the identity thieves can use spyware or even hack into computers and databases to obtain volumes of information. Certain software can be access by hackers and can even be used by amateur hackers to break into and retrieve information from their accomplices computers.

Additionally, the fraudsters can attack weak passwords and gain access into an executives details that are found online. The fraudsters do this through well-calculated guess works to crack weak passwords.

Therefore, the big question becomes, how can cooperate executives protect themselves and their organizations against the identity thieves? It is important to note that the fraudsters acquire personal information or rather personal identifiers through serious breaches (Neal, 2002).

It is also important to affirm that in most cases, it is as a result of an individuals naivety or ignorance that the identity thieves find it easy to carry out their heinous acts. Ignorance and naivety may lead to mishandling of vital personal and even organizational details.

To avert this crime, the executives should avoid unnecessary introductions or identification of themselves at bogus avenues. This is basically known as risk avoidance (Johnson, 2006). There is need to be very cautious about IT systems that require or demand excess amounts of personal information such as national identification numbers or even social security numbers.

Electronic identity theft can be mitigated by maintaining computer security. An example includes fully patching the operating systems and thus protecting them from intrusion by security threats.

Computer systems security can also be fortified by running antivirus software to expel any malware or spyware that may be used by identity thieves to obtain information. Recently, there were insurance service providers who not only purport to protect against identity fraud but also to identify when an identity theft had occurred.

Some other basic measures to avert executives identity theft are to ensuring that all waste documents containing confidential information are shredded before they are dumped. All organizational networks should be completely secured. The executives computers, laptops or any other portable IT devices should be strongly encrypted to protect information in case the devices are stolen.

Measures to ensure that the identity-theft mitigation measures are upheld

From the above scenario, we can effectively learn that apart from the executive ensuring security of personal details, various other persons within an organizational setup also carry the role of upholding the organization and even the executives details security (Dick, 2006).

These persons may include office secretaries, the company IT persons, mobile phone service providers, and many other stakeholders. It is consequently important that an awareness program be carried out in order to educate these groups of individuals on how to work against identity fraud.

The education and awareness program would be carried out in the form of a workshop whereby all these groups of persons would be invited. The workshop would touch on issues such as appropriate paper and equipment dumping procedures, IT systems security, importance of risk avoidance and many other propositions.

In order to ensure that the proposed measures of averting identity fraud are upheld, it would be necessary to put everyone on toes. The departmental heads can effectively do this.

The departmental heads may in turn appoint monitors who would ensure that the agreed on steps are upheld and reports made on a daily or weekly basis. For example, it would be important to assign someone the job of ensuring that all waste paper and equipment are free of confidential information.

References

Austin, J., & Carr, J. (2000). Data Breaches and Identity Fraud. New York, NY: Context Press.

Dick, G. (2010). Fighting Personal Identity fraud. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Johnson, J. (2006). A Chronology of Data Breaches. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Michelle, M. (2000). Identity Theft: How to Protect and Restore Your Good Name. Field manual, 6(22), 1-216.

Neal, J. (2002). Guarding Cooperate Identity. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

Identity theft is an act of stealing someone elses identity with the intention of accessing resources or any other benefits that may come from using the victims name. People or even organizations can be faced with adverse consequences should they fall victims of these identity fraudsters.

Identifying the connection between the identity fraud and the data breeches is always a very hard task since it is never easy determining how the theft was executed. An unpublished study by Carnegie Mellon University affirms that in many cases, the reasons for identity theft are never identified but chances of falling victim to identity theft stands at around 2% (Michelle, 2000).

With the advent of technology, identity theft has been made even much easier to the fraudsters. Hackers now have access to very malicious software and applications. There even exists such application as interested in credit card theft? This reveals the ease with which the identity thieves can access all sorts of information online.

An example of an identity theft is the case of Abraham Abdalla of Brooklyn, also known as the bus boy. He went online to access peoples private financial details. The victims included among the wealthiest people in America. He even had Oprah Winfreys and Steven Spielbergs credit cards and financial information.

However, his days were numbered and he was caught while he was attempting to make one of the largest transactions. It was referred to as a software giant. This and a multitude of various other cases occur every other day.

How would you protect cooperate executives from fraudulent acts against them?

Cooperative executives are at a great risk of falling victims to identity theft. This is so majorly because of the largesse that they always hold in the form of personal and organizational resources. This may consequently lead to large and even irrecoverable personal and organizational losses.

Before coming up with ways and measures of curbing identity theft that may be targeted on the executives, it is necessary to identify the modes and means by which the theft may be executed. It is also very important to note that fraudsters begin by obtaining personal and confidential information of their victims. Thus, it is vital to note some of the ways in which personal identifiers may fall in the hands of the fraudsters.

In order to obtain the confidential information, the identity thieves may apply various acts. One of the acts include rummaging through rubbish at dumpsites to access dumped documents which could containing their target victims information or rather  in this case  the executives information. These are the so-called dumpster divers.

Redundant IT equipment may also serve as a rich source of information to the fraudsters. These equipments may include, amongst many others, storage media such as flash disks and other memory sticks, hard drives and mobile phones. All these equipments, when carelessly disposed of, may be the genesis of grave problems.

Identity thieves can also observe as someone types their login details in an attempt to log into their private sites in publicly situated IT devices such as computers or even ATMs. The identity thieves, in order to obtain confidential data, may also use sophisticated means such as the hand held card readers that are able to skim through and avail details from a credit card (Austin & Carr, 2002).

To retrieve confidential data online, the identity thieves can use spyware or even hack into computers and databases to obtain volumes of information. Certain software can be access by hackers and can even be used by amateur hackers to break into and retrieve information from their accomplices computers.

Additionally, the fraudsters can attack weak passwords and gain access into an executives details that are found online. The fraudsters do this through well-calculated guess works to crack weak passwords.

Therefore, the big question becomes, how can cooperate executives protect themselves and their organizations against the identity thieves? It is important to note that the fraudsters acquire personal information or rather personal identifiers through serious breaches (Neal, 2002).

It is also important to affirm that in most cases, it is as a result of an individuals naivety or ignorance that the identity thieves find it easy to carry out their heinous acts. Ignorance and naivety may lead to mishandling of vital personal and even organizational details.

To avert this crime, the executives should avoid unnecessary introductions or identification of themselves at bogus avenues. This is basically known as risk avoidance (Johnson, 2006). There is need to be very cautious about IT systems that require or demand excess amounts of personal information such as national identification numbers or even social security numbers.

Electronic identity theft can be mitigated by maintaining computer security. An example includes fully patching the operating systems and thus protecting them from intrusion by security threats.

Computer systems security can also be fortified by running antivirus software to expel any malware or spyware that may be used by identity thieves to obtain information. Recently, there were insurance service providers who not only purport to protect against identity fraud but also to identify when an identity theft had occurred.

Some other basic measures to avert executives identity theft are to ensuring that all waste documents containing confidential information are shredded before they are dumped. All organizational networks should be completely secured. The executives computers, laptops or any other portable IT devices should be strongly encrypted to protect information in case the devices are stolen.

Measures to ensure that the identity-theft mitigation measures are upheld

From the above scenario, we can effectively learn that apart from the executive ensuring security of personal details, various other persons within an organizational setup also carry the role of upholding the organization and even the executives details security (Dick, 2006).

These persons may include office secretaries, the company IT persons, mobile phone service providers, and many other stakeholders. It is consequently important that an awareness program be carried out in order to educate these groups of individuals on how to work against identity fraud.

The education and awareness program would be carried out in the form of a workshop whereby all these groups of persons would be invited. The workshop would touch on issues such as appropriate paper and equipment dumping procedures, IT systems security, importance of risk avoidance and many other propositions.

In order to ensure that the proposed measures of averting identity fraud are upheld, it would be necessary to put everyone on toes. The departmental heads can effectively do this.

The departmental heads may in turn appoint monitors who would ensure that the agreed on steps are upheld and reports made on a daily or weekly basis. For example, it would be important to assign someone the job of ensuring that all waste paper and equipment are free of confidential information.

References

Austin, J., & Carr, J. (2000). Data Breaches and Identity Fraud. New York, NY: Context Press.

Dick, G. (2010). Fighting Personal Identity fraud. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Johnson, J. (2006). A Chronology of Data Breaches. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Michelle, M. (2000). Identity Theft: How to Protect and Restore Your Good Name. Field manual, 6(22), 1-216.

Neal, J. (2002). Guarding Cooperate Identity. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

High-tech crime encompasses a broad range of crimes that attack computers using various digital tools, thus presenting a high danger to network users worldwide. Such crimes generally comprise both minor and major cases, depending on the goals that criminals pursue. In such a manner, online identity theft represents a growing threat, as offenses tend to appear at an alarming rate (Knetzger & Muraski, 2008, p. 54). Indeed, generally understood as unauthorized use of ones personal information, identity theft appears daily in various spheres of human life. Further, the cases of various identity theft cases will be elaborated, simultaneously providing methods for to lower potential risks.

The Case of Unauthorized Possession of Credit Card Accounts Information

Financial institutions, such as banks, protect their clients information with the use of diverse methods in order to prevent frauds that use information and telecommunication technologies. Nevertheless, even official authentication methods do not appear to be a full guarantee that personal information will never be leaked. Indeed, a notable case of an individual who possessed the personal information of more than 2,300 accounts of credit cards shall be thereby considered. To be more precise, in 2011, a man from Brooklyn, N. Y., was accused of online identity theft, which involved more than $700,000 (The U.S. Department of Justice, 2011). This and other similar schemes primarily involve purchasing the stolen credit cards and, upon obtaining personal information, further distributing the data among other individuals. Subsequently, these individuals then use the stolen information to commit other fraudulent transactions. In turn, people suffer huge monetary losses, especially if they do not inform their bank about unauthorized transactions on time.

Methods to Prevent the Potential Leak of the Credit Card Accounts Information

It is fundamentally difficult to protect oneself from online identity theft. Indeed, referring to Bani-Hani et al. (2019, p. 1055), various authentication methods are still at high risk, which means that individuals cannot be fully protected from the potential high-tech crime, especially in the case of single-factor authentication method. In turn, this brings to the idea of the crucial necessity to establish two-factor authentication, as it is expected to be less vulnerable to particular attacks in comparison to any other existing methods. Aside from the general necessity of secure authentication that the financial institutions and other entities shall provide in order to prevent their clients from fraud, it is vitally important for individuals themselves to be prepared for the potential cybercrimes when possible. In this manner, people can double-check the payment systems they use or resort to for further clarifications when they suspect a potential threat. To be more precise, for instance, these individuals can contact their bank through the official telephone contact with a corresponding question. In addition, people should not disclose their card details to third parties and never share the received codes with anyone when logging into the bank account or while making online transactions.

The Case of Medical Records Identity Theft

Still, people can become victims of identity theft in a wide variety of ways. For instance, individuals can face a threat that implies the potential theft of their medical records identity. In this way, in 2021, a marketer from Louisiana was accused of healthcare fraud, which was in turn connected to the specific methods to defraud TRICARE (an official federal military healthcare program in the U.S.) and other programs which generally provide healthcare coverage for particular citizens. Basically, his scheme focused on obtaining individuals personal information, which was primarily related to the accuseds military acquaintances. Further, this information was used while filing fraudulent claims to various national public healthcare programs for disposable medical supplies. (The U.S. Department of Justice, 2021) Victims who were involved in this scheme did not directly endure the deception, yet the medical supplies ordered by the criminal were obtained with the use of their personal information. Additionally, the accused marketer recruited doctors to get prescriptions for expensive medicines in his scheme, which therefore shows the problem of bribing as well.

Methods to Prevent the Potential Threat of the Medical Records Theft

One way or another, medical records theft represents a broad range of possible crimes that can also involve the theft of peoples identity documents, such as their social security cards. Furthermore, people can receive significant bills for various medical supplies, which they neither ordered themselves nor received. Indeed, it is particularly difficult to protect oneself from this type of a criminal fraud, as various operations cannot be easy to observe. Indeed, in some cases, people may come to the hospital and be asked about certain health conditions, which one is not associated with (Knetzger & Muraski, 2008, p. 70). Furthermore, it may be difficult to regulate the medical records which were altered by the criminals due to the specific privacy rights and other regulations. Still, people can protect themselves by the mean of monitoring the status of their medical documents and not disclosing the data to third parties at any time. Additionally, the growing threat of the medical records theft should be still taken into due attention, as this problem is no less dangerous than any other type of theft. Therefore, it still should be recognized on the authority level, as the problems concerning the identity theft cases in the medical industry cannot be easily resolved by the individuals themselves.

References

Bani-Hani, A., Majdalweieh, M., & AlShamsi, A. (2019). Online authentication methods used in banks and attacks against these methods. Procedia Computer Science, 151, 1052-1059.

Brooklyn man pleads guilty to online identity theft involving more than $700,000 in reported fraud (n.d.). Department of Justice. Office of Public Affairs. Web.

Knetzger, M. R., & Muraski, J. A. (2008). Investigating high-tech crime. Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Louisiana Marketer Sentenced in More Than $180 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme. (n.d.) Department of Justice. Office of Public Affairs. Web.

“Identity theft” is when thieves steal your private data or information. In order to take over or open new accounts, file, rent or buy properties, or for other criminal things by taking your good name. “Identity theft” is the fastest-growing crime all over the world. The very obvious reason behind it is that most of us have made our most valuable personal data or information -name, address, driver’s license, credit card number and social security number, etc. – available on internet and make easy for cyber criminals to stealing it! Here a good news is that consumers and businesses have fight against identity theft and they are winning even some battles but there is such a long way to go.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the biggest part of the identity theft . By using Artificial Intelligence criminal steals lots of information in digital form. Artificial intelligence and its subsets like machine learning and deep learning make it possible to accurately process, verify, and authenticate identities.

Introduction

Identity theft happen when someone steals your personal data or personal information and uses it without your permission or without your knowledge. There are so many forms of identity theft, and each one can affect you in a different way.

There’s no way to exclude yourself against identity theft completely. But if you’re intelligent in understanding how your information can be at risk and how fraudsters can use it, you’ll be better know how to protect your data or information and act quickly when someone steal your information.

How Identity Theft Happens

Identity theft is a broad term that can apply any time when someone steals your personal information, such as your Social Security number, and uses it to create a new account, make a purchase or commit other fraud.

Because of the nature of technology and the internet, your personal information is always at risk. If you’re not carefully monitor your credit file, you may not notice. You’ve been victimised until the damage has already done.

Here’s 10 of the most common ways identity thieves get hold of your data

1. Data Breaches

A data breach can happen when someone gain access to an organisation’s data without the authorisation. The most common types of information stolen in data breaches are full names, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers.

According to Identity Theft Resource Centre in 2018, there were 1,244 data breaches was in the U.S., and more than 446 million records were found.

Due to people having so many accounts with various kind of businesses and other organisations, it’s virtually impossible to keep the information safe from a data breach, but there are various steps you can take to minimise the risk.

2. Unsecured Browsing

For the most important, you have to browse the internet safely, especially when you stick to well-known websites. But if you use any unsecured website and share information on that website or using a website that’s been compromised by a hackers than you could be putting your sensitive information directly in the hands of a thief.

It depends on your browser, it may give you an alert if you try to access a risky website.

3. Dark Web Marketplaces

The dark web is the place where you’r personally identifying information ends up after it has been stolen. Hackers not always steals your information to use it for themselves, but may instead choose to sell it to others who have potentially nefarious intentions.

The dark web is a hidden network of websites. They aren’t accessible by normal browsers. People who visit the dark web they use special software to mask their identity and activity, making it a haven for fraudsters. When your information ends up on a dark web marketplace, without your knowledge, anybody could buy it and putting your identity in more danger.

4. Malware Activity

Malware or malicious software is any kind of program or file that is harmful for a computer user. Types of malware can be computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses and spyware. These malicious programs can perform a variety of different functions like stealing data or information, encryption or deletion of sensitive data, altering or hijacking core computing functions and monitoring users’ computer activity without their permission or their knowledge.

5. Credit Card Theft

One of the simplest forms of identity theft is credit card theft or credit card fraud. If a thief steals your credit card can gain access to your credit card information, then they can use it to make unauthorised purchases.

Mostly credit card theft are occur through a data breach, physical theft, credit card skimmers and via online retail accounts where card informations are stored.

6. Mail Theft

Since long before when there was no internet, identity thief has been combing through the mail to find documents that hold the personal information. Bank and credit card statements, and any other document that you send or receive through the postal system, that can be used to gain access to your data.

The mail you throw away can also leave you vulnerable, so make sure you shred all old mail that may contain personal information or personal data.

7. Phishing and Spam Attacks

Phishing attacks use email or malicious websites to collect personal information and financial information or infect your machine or computer with malware and viruses. Some scammers also use text messages and other forms of electronic communication to steal your sensitive information. The message is look like it is coming from any reputable source and asking victims to give up one or more types of information.

Spam is electronic equivalent of the junk mail. The term refers to unsolicited, bulk – and often unwanted – email. Here is way to reduce spam:

Enable filters on your email programs:

Most internet service providers and email providers offer you spam filters. However it depends on the level you set you may end up blocking emails you want. It is a good idea to always check your junk folder or junk files to ensure the filters are working properly.

8. Wi-Fi Hacking

If you are using your computer or phone on a public network – airport, department store or coffee shop Then the Wi-Fi – hackers may be able to steal your data. It has been established that most of the Wifi networks are extremely vulnerable to security breaches and are easy to be hacked. No matter if you are technically savvy or not, you must be aware that you need to have a password for wifi security. It is important for you to understand that someone could compromise your wireless network and there are many ways out there for you to protect yourself.

9. Mobile Phone Theft

Smartphones are a treasure of information for identity thieves especially if your phone’s apps allow you to log in automatically without any password or fingerprint. If someone try to steal and unlock your phone then it could allow them to view the information that they found in your apps as well as in your emails, text messages, notes and much more.

Make sure your phone always locks with a secure passcode or password, biometric screening is set up properly and your passwords aren’t stored in plain text anywhere on your phone for the sake of security.

10. Card Skimming

Some thieves use a skimming device. That device can be easily placed over a card reader on an ATM or a fuel pump and it looks like original. When somebody swipes a debit or credit card at a compromised machine then skimmer reads the information from the card’s magnetic stripe and either stores it or transmits it. A criminal can then use this information to make purchases or for any other activity.

How Identity Theft Can Affect You

Once a thief has your information, they can do so many things with it, including:

• Open fraudulent credit cards.
• Use your existing bank or credit card accounts to make unauthorised purchases.
• Sell it to other thieves.
• File a fraudulent tax return or steal your tax refund.
• Access your financial accounts and steal your money.
• Commit child identity theft using your child’s information.

Depending on what type of theft that occurs and how the criminal uses the information identity theft can result in immediate loss in finance and damage to your credit and emotional distress. It may take anywhere from less than a day to so many months or even years to resolve the issue.

If you work on recovering from identity theft then you may end up dealing with late payments, medical bills, and IRS penalties requiring investigations and long-term assistance and if you are a tax identity theft victim. It may result in losing account access and having your personal accounts taken by the thieves and general loss of data privacy.

How to Check for Identity Theft

You can’t completely avoid the possibility that your identity may be stolen, but you can take action to spot potential fraud before it becomes a major problem.

For checking identity theft, keep one eye on your credit reports. While you can view for free every 12 months through AnnualCreditReport.com. You can view a summary of your reports more regularly through so many free and paid credit monitoring services.

As you check your report please watch for trade-lines that you forget to open. Also, keep one eye on your credit score – a sudden inexplicable drop can be a dead giveaway that something is wrong.

Here are some other telltale signs that someone may have your identity:

• You aren’t receiving important mail such as bills or checks.
• You get bills for items that you didn’t order or statements for credit cards that you didn’t sign up for.
• You’re denied credit despite having an excellent credit rating.
• You have unauthorised bank transactions or withdrawals.
• You’ve received notice that your personal information may have been compromised in a data breach.
• Your electronic tax filing is denied.
• You receive unauthorised authentication messages by text or email for unknown accounts.
• You get an email from an organisation that says your account has been recently accessed and it wasn’t you.
• You receive a bill or an explanation of benefits for health care that you didn’t seek.

What to Do if You Think You’re a Victim

If you think that you’ve fallen victim to identity theft then the most important thing have to do is to limit the potential damage. In case your credit card or debit card was stolen please contact the card issuer and your bank immediately – some banks may even allow you to lock your bank account through your mobile app until you can report the fraud.

After that double-check your credit reports with the three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) to confirm any type of unusual activity and get help dealing with the identity theft. If you find something is a miss, consider locking or freezing your credit.

Alternatively you can set a fraud alert which notifies the lenders that you’ve been a victim of identity theft so that they can take extra measures to verify your identity.

Identity theft is a crime so it is also a good idea to contact your local law enforcement agency. While authorities may not be able to do much they can take reports and be on the alert for suspicious behaviour that could involve your name or address.

Before you go to report the crime reach out to the Federal Trade Commission to file a report. The agency will provide steps you need to do and paperwork to file reports – including how to deal with police reports – and help you out dispute fraudulent charges.

Being a victim of identity theft is a harrowing experience ever. It can take several months and many hours of filling out forms and working with agencies and businesses to recover the identity that is stolen.

Other Types of Identity Theft

There are less common types of identity theft – and you should know them :

• Child ID Theft – Children’s IDs are extremely vulnerable. It’s hard to detect the thief for several years. By the time they become adults the damage already has been done.
• Tax ID Theft – Thieves commonly use your Social Security number to falsely file tax returns with the IRS or state government.
• Medical ID Theft – Someone could even steal your Medicare ID or health insurance member number to receive medical services. It could also trigger fraudulent billing to your health insurance provider.
• Senior ID Theft – Mostly ID theft schemes will target seniors only who are in frequent contact with medical professionals or caregivers who have access to personal information or financial documents.
• Social ID Theft – Whatever is on your social media platforms – your name, photos and other personal information – can be used to create a false account.

How to use AI to fight identity fraud

It’s no secret that identity fraud is a growing so fast and become a problem: A record shown that 16.7 million US adults experienced identity fraud in 2017 and marking an 8% increase from the year before according to Javelin’s 2018 Identity Fraud study.

The amount of fraudulent transactions, massive data breaches and instances of identity theft continues increase. Hackers and fraudsters become more sophisticated. ID scanning solutions have various strengths. Some simply scan an ID’s barcode whereas more robust software performs forensic and biometric tests to ensure that an ID is not forged.

Conclusion

Many types of identity theft are discuss here. One way is to continually check the accuracy of personal documents or personal data and promptly deal with any discrepancies. Lots of businesses provide products that help people avoid the effects of identity theft. These services provide information helping people to safeguard their personal information, monitor public records, as well as private records such as credit reports to alert their clients of every transactions and status changes. They also provide assistance to victims to help them resolve problems associated with identity theft. In addition some of the government agencies and nonprofit organisations provide similar assistance, typically with websites that have information and tools to help people to avoid, remedy and report incidents of identity theft.

Identity thieves mostly use computer technology to gain other people’s personal information for identity theft. To find such kind of information they always search the hard drives of stolen or discarded computers. So they hack into computers or computer networks and access computer-based public records. So that they can use the information gathering malware to infect computers. They browse social networking sites and use deceptive emails or text messages to steal your identity.

Resources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud
2. https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-identity-theft/
3. https://www.debt.org/credit/identity-theft/
4. https://techbeacon.com/security/how-use-ai-fight-identity-fraud
5. https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/malware
6. https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/online-safety-basics/spam-and-phishing/
7. https://zenmate.com/academy/wifi-hacking-explained
8. https://www.debt.org/credit/identity-theft/
9. https://techbeacon.com/security/how-use-ai-fight-identity-fraud

INTRODUCTION

In this report, it will be focusing on identity theft and the effects it has had on Australian citizens, as well as the effectiveness of national and international law with addressing the issue. Some cases of identity theft can include; scams, hacking, ransom and deep fakes which are the more frequent types of identity theft that affect an individual. Anyone can be a casualty of identity theft, it is a major threat to many individuals, the public need to be informed about this hence they will know how to handle the situation if they are ever a victim or it happens to another.

WHAT IT IS?

Identity theft is when someone uses another person’s information; such as their name, credit card number, social security number or any other personal information without the person’s consent and using their key information in order to commit fraud (or other crimes), obtain credit or loans, or to apply for something personal under someone else’s name, (such as passport, license, credit card, etc), even if the thieves or hackers have only few information about you they are still able to use the information from online sources such as the internet or social media; for photographs, date of birth, name, etc that are open and released to the public. Identity theft is usually used for personal gains, such as financial purposes, property or power over the person who is a victim.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Identity theft can take place through many shapes and forms, it can happen online through hackers, in person if someone has lost their identification, missing mail (if you are not receiving regular mail, or receiving mail that is not yours), and many more. Occasionally when information is stolen from someone, the hacker may demand a ransom (demand for money )if the money is not paid or they would release the information online to the public, or to put it up onto the dark web, as a threat, or if the ransom is paid the hacker would “delete” the information, but most of the time isn’t and is kept as a blackmailing purpose or other reasons to hold the information from the person.

STATISTICS

“Almost a third of Australians who were affected by card fraud was targeted 2 or more times.”

Four men aged 50, 44, 33 and 37 were arrested and charged with a number of offences. The men sold medicare cards, driver’s licences and bank and credit cards, for people, they did this by using “sophisticated” machinery including printer and laminators. It is suspected that hundreds of people could’ve been affected by this happening as they could have been a victim of this crime. Police say it was hard to tell which were real identities of people and which were fake identities established from fictional people. Australian Border Force acting assistant commissioner David Nockels said: “once you have your identity stolen it is very difficult to get it back”. The 50-year-old man from Campsie was charged with possession of equipment to make false documents. The 44-year-old man from Carlton was charged with possession of equipment to make false documents and possession of a prohibited drug. The 33-year-old man from Homebush West was charged with five counts of dealing with identity information. And the other 37-year-old man from Homebush West was charged with five counts of dealing with identity information. A 51-year-old Chinese woman was detained as an illegal immigrant and soon to be deported from Australia.

In 2016 Azalea had a photo shoot with GQ Australia, her nude photographs were then stolen and leaked out online to the public, the photographs were being spread and shared around by an unknown source. “Research from Monash and RMIT Universities shows one in five Australians aged between 16 and 49 years have experienced image-based abuse, while one in 10 has perpetrated these acts.” Since the nude photographs had been leaked Azalea has come out and talked about other women whose faces and photos which had been used to make fake pornographic content (known as deep fakes). The images of these women have been edited onto another person who is performing the act to make it look like the woman whose face is being used is the person performing. Deep fakes affect many people, the main group of people targeted are celebrities and high-profile women to make it look like they are doing something they aren’t actually doing.

EFFECTIVENESS

The Australian Federal Police are working with the government to try and crack down on more of these cases to prevent them from happening too often to civilians. The ISST is also a group working with police to target groups responsible for the activity. In Australia, many people are affected by identity theft every day, the police advise people to be cautious of what they post on their social media networks as their identities such as name, date of birth, etc can be easily stolen, Facebook is one of the biggest sites where identities can we easily have stolen, your name, photograph, date of birth, city and family are all out to the public if not edited cautiously.

CONCLUSION

Identity theft can happen to anyone around the world. Everyone must be cautious of what they put out online, and who they trust with their passwords. Civilians are able to be hacked online easily with everything involving the internet and social media, which shows off a substantial amount of information. There are many ways someone can have their identity stolen so it is best that everyone is always cautious about their social media and their personal belongings, such as passport, drivers license, Medicare card and other belongings that could have them potentially having their identity stolen.

Introduction

Identity theft is a big problem for our digital world. It can cause depression, decreasing your wellbeing. Identity theft has a lot of different types, such as driver’s license fraud, online shopping fraud, etc. If your wellbeing is bad, you can have a lot of stress, which can lead to violent emotions. A way we can prevent identity theft is to be educated to make your account secure, to not let any ‘mosquitoes’ (identity thieves) in. Identity theft happens when someone steals your identity by taking your personal information such as your driver’s license. Someone can have a fake identity, to get away from their past crimes. Scammers use different techniques to lure people in, like phishing. Phishing is a method hackers use to lure people into the trap, which is a scam. Identity theft is a very bad problem for our wellbeing and our safety.

What are identity theft and different types of identity theft?

Identity theft is when a person steals someone’s identity. This is when people use your identity, using clues such as license plate, online details, financial details, and online avatars or name. Identity theft is used also in many forms such as driver’s license identity theft, mail identity theft, debit card fraud or credit card fraud, online shopping fraud, social security number identity theft, account takeover identity theft, senior identity theft/senior scams, child identity theft, tax identity theft, biometric ID theft, Criminal identity theft, synthetic identity theft, new account takeover, medical identity theft, loan stacking fraud, auto lending fraud, employment identity theft and Internet identity theft. This is what identity theft is because these are all the methods that are possible for you to lose your identity. For example, a driver’s license identity theft, once they get your driver’s license they can hack your personal details and steal all your personal information and financial details. Credit card fraud is fairly the most common fraud used to steal someone’s identity, a credit card is fairly easy to steal all of your personal details and your identity. It is used to steal your 1. Credit card, 2. Your personal details (name, date of birth) and 3. It can be easy to hack everything else you own and is known for.

What effects can a credit card identity theft and online identity theft are on our wellbeing?

One of the hardest types of identity theft to deal with is credit card fraud. Credit card fraud or debit card fraud is when someone steals someone’s credit card details for their use. It can be very hard for you if you don’t have money. The world revolves around money, and if you don’t have any, your life could be very hard. You need money to buy food, to move around places, and good shelter. `Your wellbeing can be affected because you wouldn’t feel safe. An identity thief will not likely steal your credit card details just for satisfaction. They are most likely in need of money or want to take revenge. Credit card fraud can easily ruin someone’s well being.

If your identity was stolen, then the thief can easily get a loan under your account. The way that works is the thief takes your identity (which can be your driver’s license), and then they have your information. Your money, your address, and other personal details. They use your account to get a loan, and when it is time to pay back the loan, your bank tells you to pay it, and the thief gets all your money and you have to explain to the bank that you haven’t got a loan. Another scenario is when your driver’s license is stolen, and you can order something under your name, then, when the thief orders it, the package is delivered to not your address, but the thief’s. Identity theft is very similar to real-life mugging, which can be very bad for you.

Stress is your body’s reaction to bad situations, whether they are real, or you think it is real. You can feel financial stress because if you have kids, you will start to imagine their futures and if you can’t afford their school fees. Identity theft victims may experience similar emotional effects as victims of violent crimes, like anxiety to violent emotions. People’s personality can change from stress, and personality can be dangerous. Stress can make you do things that you wouldn’t do. Stress is proven that it can cause depression, mental illnesses and even cardiovascular disease (heart disease). Your blood pressure can rise, and your heart rate can increase. Some stress is not bad, as some stress can help you accomplish tasks and also protect yourself. Some stress symptoms are changes of your emotions, your ability to think, and your physical appearance. Stress is a very bad issue for wellbeing.

How does identity theft happen and how does it appear?

Identity Theft happens when you give your details to someone somehow. “Congratulations, you have won the new iPhone 11 pro, click here to claim,” this is likely a scam. A scam like this would seem obvious to be a scam but millions of people fall for it every year. Scammers use different techniques to get the person to agree to it. For a boy who is around the age of 10-13, the ads would be about free currency in a video game, where-as for a mother, they might advertise a scam for baby clothes, etc. Identity theft is used like hacking. People can hack into other people’s bank accounts, act like them and deposit large sums of money. They might even put a bunch of loans under your name. In real life, people can steal mail for account numbers, from a medical or government office or, steal your handbag or wallet for credentials. With your identity, people can access your credit card, acquire free food, bank accounts, get away with arrest and anything that checks who you are or on a sort of credentials. Identity theft also happens when you have subscriptions to sketchy websites. If a website looks suspicious or unusual you should probably find a better website do whatever you were doing. Identity theft also happens when you sign up for a certain shop to get a discount. This sometimes will give you spam in your emails or it can use your identity to use it for a certain reason. Hackers always have a certain reason the would ID theft you.

Identity theft appears in a lot of different ways. For example, it could appear by a pop-up or a certain software tool on your phone that says click here to update your belongings. Identity theft can appear all of a sudden or it can appear when you are not knowing. When you sign up for something on your phone you have all these terms and conditions. Most people are not bothered to read it so they scroll down and press “I accept.” In the terms and conditions, there could be something that says, your details and shared with everyone. It can appear unexpectedly by if a massive pop-up comes and blocks your screen that says something sketchy. One of the easiest ways anyone would fall for a scam is the free-wifi hotspot scam. Some internet networks may say “no password required”. But on the other hand, it will ask you unnecessary questions to “sign-in” or “verify”. A criminal can set up an open-access Wi-Fi hotspot in a coffee shop or airport or anywhere that’s connected to his or her laptop. Once you join, this person has access to your computer and mines it for financial and personal data. That’s how wifi hotspot works. How to avoid it. Do not click on any links in pop-up ads. Install a robust, trusted antivirus program on your computer and run it regularly. You may also install pop-up/ ad blockers on your browsers to prevent these scams from ever reaching you. Keep the important files on your computer backed up to an external drive, just in case. This is how identity theft happens, and how it appears.

How can we prevent credit card identity theft?

First of all, why is identity theft such a threat? There are thousands of hackers in Australia, capable of getting into your account. In just one year, there were over 16.8 billion dollars stolen due to identity theft and unauthorised withdrawals. If your identity has been stolen or you are worried it will be stolen you can follow these steps:

1. If your identity has been stolen, it was likely for your bank account details to steal your money. The easiest way to recover from this is to first contact the bank or companies involved. 2. If your identity has been stolen, and you contact the company you can be protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act. This lowers the money lost from an unauthorized person being in your account, so instead of losing $1000, you could only lose $50. 3. Another way to stop an identity thief can be connecting a credit fraud alert on your credit report. This will warn you and the banking company about a potential identity thief on your account. The good thing about this is, it’s free and will remain on your report for the whole year. 4. Check your credit report frequently. This is one of the most simple things you can do but also one of the most effective. Checking the report once every few months and reading through for purchases you may not have made. To help fight against identity theft, you should contact the police. As you know, the police have strong hackers and systems to catch and find an identity thief. If you try to catch them yourself, you could end up losing even more money… or worse.

How can we prevent online identity theft?

Identity theft is different because Identity theft is when someone steals your personal values online, or in real life. While credit card fraud is when a scammer or a hacker steals your credit card details. The main that identity theft is when someone acts like they are you, but on the other hand credit card fraud is when they steal your credit card details and uses them to buy stuff or do whatever they want on it. The hackers or scammers get your details very easily and you wouldn’t even know it. An example is signing into unusual things or subscriptions. There is a non-safe system where you can get an app on your phone and then you can get access to these green bikes that you can find everywhere. Hackers can easily hack that system then from there hack your phone and then all your personal items. Online identity theft is an extremely common occurrence and can lead to either annoying of catastrophic consequences. Important information is easily accessed without a strong firewall. Firewalls aren’t often used with home wifi networks though government intel and modems are more secure.

Conclusion

In conclusion, identity theft is harmful to your wellbeing, your values and your expenses. Identity theft appears when you give or someone takes your details and uses it for themselves. Identity theft can happen tangible, or intangible. It can happen anywhere. Identity theft appears to affect you deeply, this can lead to a severe depression issue to having anxiety everywhere you go. It can make you go through many emotions but depression is a severe danger especially it if it suffers in your daily life. The feelings you get are anxious to catastrophic and this has a big impact on your well being. In the end, Identity theft can be an easy lure to you and you can get your personal details stolen, your account hacked and you will probably see a lot of weird things that the scammer has bought. The final statement if that you should always keep your personal details to your loved ones and the people you trust, “Zero Trust” is a good system that can lock up all your details and if the hackers get past your fire-wall this will secure it to the max.

Identity theft is among the largest problems experienced in our society today. It is an invisible and silent crime where someone unknown to you steals your personal information quietly without consent from the owner or that of the immediate authority with an aim of using it for their own financial gain. The victims of this theft undergo financial stress and later might experience emotional, physical and social stress as well depending on the kind of crime committed with the stolen information. This theft is a crime with lasting effect and the victims face lingering effects for sometime after the identity theft and may even lead to involvement of the authorities and legal intervention.

Identity theft as the name suggests is a crime that involves someone’s identity being stolen quietly without being noticed by the victim or the immediate authority for financial gains. The thieves usually steal their victim’s personal information for use in financial transactions or for use in some criminal activities so as to prevent them from being linked to the crime and the victims on the other hand end up being linked or even paying for the crimes that they did not commit unless the investigators are able to prove that an identity theft was committed.

There are many types of identity theft; the most common ones are financial identity theft, criminal identity theft, driver’s license identity theft, medical identity theft, child identity theft, insurance identity theft. ( iGrad, 2016) The impact of identity theft on the victims is adverse and may last for a long time and often takes a financial toll on them followed by the emotional, social and physical breakdown of the victims.

Negative effects of identity theft often involve finances, but there are consequences that the individual involved can face including socially, physically and even emotionally.

The financial effects are usually the first ones to be felt by the victims since most of the identity thefts are meant for financial gain of the thief and drain of the victim. The hardships experienced financially by the victim of identity theft may last for a long time with the time frame being months or even years after the victim’s personal and private information is exposed. If the identity theft involved an account takeover, the identity thieves might also take over the victim’s financial accounts and investments. The impacts of this could affect the victim’s mortgage, retirement and children’s education. If the identity theft issue becomes complicated it will require the victim to look for expert advice and by so doing the legal fees could be an addition to the financial impact. Sometimes the financial toll is so bad that some victims seek assistance from the government while they recover, this is an indicator of the potential magnitude of the hardship felt by the victim. ( Weisbaum, Herb 2014).

Secondly, identity theft can have a social impact on their victims in that one can be targeted through social media accounts once the identity thieves gain access to their victim’s personal information like the passwords to their email addresses or social media accounts. Whether one depends on social media for keeping in touch with family or friends or for marketing your products or advertising, the hackers could ruin one’s reputation and even put your job at risk if they gain access to their victims social media accounts as they may use that account or even open fraudulent accounts using your details and post illegal items while impersonating their victims. This can have lasting and dire consequences or impacts on the victim as this may lead to loss of jobs and even breakups in marriages and relationships not forgetting the stigma from the society at large. ( Giles, Jim (2010)

Emotional impacts can also be felt by the victim in the long run. Even though the impact is less obvious, identity theft can trigger emotional reactions from the victim with anger being the first feeling after which other long term emotions follow. For instance if the identity theft involved a crime it can interfere with your job search as the criminal record in the background check done by employers may affect your employment opportunities and also feelings of self-worth.

Lastly, identity theft also impacts the victims physically in that one could be arrested if their personal information was found in a scene of crime. This can be a very stressful ordeal because it may take some time before one can clear their name plus the consequences of this can last for a long time. For instance the arrest records can affect your job search as they will always be seen during the background checks; one could lose their jobs due to the arrest records and even your home in case the credit mortgage is affected.

In conclusion, Identity theft is a silent crime but with serious and long terms negative impacts on the victims. The negative impacts usually depend on the kind of identity theft that one is faced with. For instance if the identity theft was used in financial crimes then the victim tends to suffer financially and later on other impacts may follow or if the identity theft was targeting the victim’s social life then the victim will be affected socially and later the other impacts may follow. In addition the identity theft may be so serious to the extent of involving the authorities. Therefore identity theft being a crime as any other should be handled as such and dealt with plus measures put in place to deal with them in the near future.