Identity Theft

Abstract

Identity theft is a scenario where a person steals any details of another person and uses them as theirs for personal gain. For example, a person took advantage of another person’s hard work by stealing bank credit cards and used it to withdraw the cash from the bank without the consent of the owner (Zucker, 2010). This amounts to identity theft and neither the bank nor the owner recognized the thief before he or she committed the crime.

Introduction

There are several measures being taken into considerations by the criminal researchers and authors on ways to curb identity theft. Businesses have the responsibility of ensuring that the customers are not prone to identity theft and should at all times be able to spot out thieves. The process of identity theft involves some three simple steps (Mancini, 2010). Accessing the computers, social media accounts and going through victims emails is the first step. The second step involves the misuse of personal information to get the financial advantage which in turn leaves a person broke and in trouble with the authorities. The third and final stage is when the victim has discovered that there are some anomalies in the account after the thief has committed fraud (Zucker, 2010). Discovering the act takes less time but getting the full information on the level of activities done by the thief could take more than six months. Most victims are notified by the financial institutions of some unclear and irregular activities in their accounts which are where they know they have been robbed.

Conclusion

Identity theft is now becoming one of the most dangerous and an uprising form of criminal activity that has left many people broke and others in serious financial situations (Mancini, 2010). Dealing with identity theft is difficult especially due to the many activities that follow after an identity theft such as murder, fraud and other serious crimes. Several measures have been put in place such as facial recognition systems in the banks and other target locations to ensure that such acts are reduced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

House of cards. (cover story). Consumer Reports [serial online]. June 2011;76(6):23. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 22, 2016.

Mancini, J. (2010). Why Aren't Credit Card Companies Responsible for Identity Theft?

Protect yourself from identity and credit fraud. Consumer Reports Money Adviser [serial online]. January 2015;12(1):6-7. Available from: Business Source Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 15, 2016.

Zucker, B. (2010). Counteracting Identity Fraud in the Information Age: The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. nternational Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 13 (2), 183-192.