Identity Theft Essay

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Some Examples of Identity Theft and its Prevention

Identity theft has a big opportunity in office or at friends place where we go casual sometimes. In any given point of time neve give an opportunity to your friend or collegue to type any personal information that belongs to you like sometime you are buying something at any ecommerce website and your friend is standing next to you and suddenly you get a important call and you ask your friend to complete the transaction by handing over your card. Remember you are standing beside your friend while talking to phone but a blink can make you lose two important things, trust on a good friend and personal information both. As if any fraud happens to your card few days later to such situation you would doubt your friend which in some condition can be right but it could be a coincidence as well. It’s better to be alert instead blaming someone else on our fault.

Techniques:

After acquiring the personal information from various methods the identity thieves saves the information and uses it promptly. Purchase of maximum amount from the credit/debit card acquired, using the identity to commit crime.

Firstly they acquire the information on victim from various sources like social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter etc.), email accounts, bank accounts, from their family members, neighbors, friends, colleagues etc. The common of all is targeting the credit card or bank account details. Then they convert the information acquired into their benefits like purchases, using identity to commit any crime or taking loan etc. The most commonly conversion of the acquired data is to apply credit card or loan.

Victims and Special Victims:

Anyone from newborn to deceased can be victim as their information can easily be accessed by Identity Thieves and they usually use them to defraud others (usually businesses), hide from law enforcement etc. They are special victims are they are unaware of being victimized. Their information is accessed from social security death index files, from hospitals, stealing death certificates etc. In many cases the family members share the personal information with such thieves unknowingly.

Plan of Action for Victims

In Identity Theft situation where you feel that you become a victim of identity theft (your identity is misused in any way), you should quickly take action and never ignore in case of smaller issues as if they are ignored, can come in with a bigger lose next time. Example, if today you have ignored to see the extra copy of your important information with your financial advisor, probably he can take a loan in your name and run away or loses the papers somewhere else and other person does the same. Report your bank or legal authorities asking immediate investigation or action if found any such issue. Never carry extra credit/debit cards as they give an open opportunity to such thieves as we never check those accounts which we don’t use on regular basis. Always keep mobile banking activated in all your account to keep all alerts regularly to keep yourself updated on every transaction. In case you are in pick pocket situation or you lose/forget your wallet or purse anywhere immediately visit the nearest police station and file a missing report with all required details. Call your bank to stop all your important cards you had to avoid misuse of your bank account or credit card. Take an acknowledgment of complain from both police and bank so in future you can refer the same in case of worst situation.

Technology to be used against Identity Thieves

CCTV, different type of security equipment and software are easily available in the market which works on wireless network and can be accessed from your mobile phones. Burglars can also be identical thieves and to prevent you home or office becomes very important in such scenario. Live in a society which has proper security system installed and invest some amount to safeguard your home with video door phones, magnetic door contact and burglary alarm system to keep you informed and updated about what’s going on behind your back when you are away as you get all data on your mobile with some software. It will help you protect your personal belongings like your computers, laptop, other physical documents like bills, identity cards which are not carried regularly etc.

Keep different passwords in all account with different patterns and never keep similar passwords in all your bank account as it will become easy for the thief the crack all account password if he is able to hack one, at least you can save others if you lose one. Same methodology applies to all your internet accounts like social media accounts, your email accounts (official or personal), ecommerce site accounts as they can easily be used to do fraud in your name.

Legislation:

Wide range of federal law exists for different type of fraud cases. The first federal law came in 1998 with the passage of Identity Theft Assumption and Deterrence Act. This act made the victim’s recovery easier by law enforcement. To protect consumers against such theft Congress passed The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) in 2003. FACTA created National Fraud Alert System.

Conclusion:

To conclude this report – Identity Theft is a way of committing crime on someone else’s Identity which could be with the personal information of the person, through credit card etc. It has become very easy for the identical thief to access/collect the personal information due to digital advancement as it is accessible through social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter etc), convivial security numbers, mobile phones, email accounts or emails, credit or debit card numbers etc. According to the Federal Trade Commission, over 2 million people are victim of identity larceny. Personal information is very sensitive and has to be handled very carefully to prevent Identity Theft.

References:

- 12 Ways To Avoid Identity Theft. (2016). Identitytheftkiller.com. Retrieved 13 December 2016, from

http://www.identitytheftkiller.com/10-ways-to-avoid-id-theft.php.

- 14 Identity Theft Methods Used by Criminals (2016).Montrose-La Crescenta, CA Patch. Retrieved 13 December 2016, from

http://patch.com/california/montrose/14-identity-theft-methods-used-by-criminals.