The Dangers and Consequences of Identity Theft

1. The Dangers and Consequences of Identity Theft By: Deandre Bennett

2. Terms • Identity theft is stealing and using someone’s personal information for gain. • Phishing is trying to get people’s personal information by pretending to represent a legitimate company. • Cyber crime is illegal activity using computers and the Internet. • A credit report is information about the history of transactions on a credit card (how often payments are made, purchases, amount of credit being used, etc).

3. Why is it Dangerous? • If someone steals an identity, they can spend all of the money and leave the victim with nothing. • They can open new accounts and take out a lot of loans, which will ruin credit. • Just one piece of information can grant them easy access to the rest. • It can put people’s lives at risk. • Technological advances have made it even easier.

4. Things That Can Be Stolen • Credit, debit, and ATM cards • Social Security numbers • Driver’s licenses • Medical records

5. Credit, Debit, and ATM Cards • If a credit card number is stolen, new cards and accounts can be opened in the victim’s name. • The information can also be used to apply for loans. • Thieves will send a change of address form to the credit card company when applying for a new card to keep the victim from getting suspicious. • Debit and ATM cards can be cloned and used to spend all the money in people’s checking accounts.

6. Social Security Numbers • The social security number is the most commonly stolen piece of information. • Corporate and government databases are breached almost daily in the U.S., which results in thousands of social security numbers being lost or stolen. • It can be used be used by thieves to impersonate the victim or create a new identity for themselves. • They can use the stolen information to get jobs, file bad tax returns, steal Social Security checks, disability, unemployment, and other government benefits.

7. Driver’s Licenses • Driver’s licenses can be stolen and used to accumulate traffic offenses and DUIs, which will ruin people’s driving records. • They are valuable because they have the victim’s full name, address, date of birth, height, weight, hair color, and eye color. If a thief physically steals one, he/she will have no trouble altering it. • If they choose not to alter it, then they can make easy money by selling it to someone who looks like the person they stole it from. • Fake driver’s licenses can be produced by using templates found on the Internet.

8. Medical Records • The thief steals and uses health insurance and health insurance information to receive medical care in the victim’s name. They could be things like doctor’s appointments, medical tests, and surgery. • This is especially dangerous because it could have a negative effect on health as well as finances. • The thief could get diagnosed with something the victim doesn’t have, like diabetes. If the victim later goes to the doctor for something they actually do have, like heart disease, the diabetes diagnosis would show up in the records and would affect the heart disease care. • If the thief gets a blood test and their type is recorded, the victim could be put in serious danger if the blood types were different.

9. How Thieves Can Get Your Information • They can steal purses and wallets. • They can dig through trashcans and dumpsters for documents with financial information. • They can buy the information from people who have access to it. • They can pose as representatives of legitimate companies and ask people for their information (phishing). • They can look over people’s shoulders while they use ATMs and write checks. • Thieves can hack to get people’s computer passwords. • Electronic pick pocketing: Use of small credit card readers to steal credit card numbers. To pick pocket someone, all the thief has to do is bump into them. • They can get it from posts on social media websites.

10. Statistics • This is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. • Identity theft increased by 8% in 2012 alone. • A study found that 7% of American households have a member who has been victimized. • 64.1% of those occurrences resulted from stolen or misplaced credit cards. • 27% of victims are targeted by people they know. • Average number of victims in the U.S.: 11,571,900 • The social security numbers of 106 million dead people are being used. • Children are affected thirty-five times more than adults. • Someone’s identity is stolen every three seconds.