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Identity theft refers to a fraud when someone pretends to be some other person to steal their money or receive any other benefits. The term ‘Identity Theft’ was defined in 1964 and is a misnomer, as it isn’t possible to steal identities, they can be just used to perform other illegal acts. The person whose identity is stolen can suffer a lot of consequences as he/she could be held responsible for the thief’s actions. Most countries have made laws that consider using another individual’s identity to gain any benefits as a crime. Identity fraud and identity theft are different things but many times the terms are used interchangeably. Identity theft can result in identity fraud. People can steal or use another person’s identification without committing any fraud. The best examples of this situation are occurring of data breaches as there is little evidence which links data breach to identity fraud. Studies have stated that most data breaches haven’t resulted in any identity theft incidents, but the full extent of the damage caused by breaches is yet unknown. These studies have also shown that probability of becoming victim to identity fraud due to a data breach is 0.02. Recently, a company’s accounts were breached to steal four million records and only 1800 instances resulted in identity thefts (or frauds). To commit an identity theft, a criminal requires a person’s identifiable documents or information with which he/she can impersonate the victim. The obtaining of the information could be done by: 1. Getting data from carelessly disposed computer servers and any other redundant equipment. 2. By rummaging through the rubbish or dump which contains personal information of an individual or by stealing their mail. 3. By stealing the identification or payment cards. This is done by pick pocketing or skimming through a card reader which is compromised. 4. Researching regarding an individual in public records, online search engines, government registers or any other search services. 5. Reading information from a passport, RFID enabled (or by placing RFID chip on) credit card or smart card. 6. Personal data can also be leaked if a person is eavesdropping on an individual’s public transactions like shoulder surfing. 7. Hacking computer databases or computers to obtain personal information. Usually done by Zero day attacks and Trojan horses. 8. Data breaches which result in public leakage (online posts) of information like credit card numbers or social security numbers. These numbers can also be stolen from easily obtainable sources like numbers printed on mailing labels. 9. By advertising fake job offers. The victims (to be) reply to these offers with their CV which contain their personal and banking details. 10. Also, false fingerprint identification is done by obtaining casts of fingers. Identity theft is a very unfortunate thing which could happen to anyone. Therefore, people should protect their personal information to avoid any mishappenings as the consequences could be very harmful. Visit free-credit-reports.com for more information regarding credit report or identity theft.
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