Identity Theft Articles

The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act is a bill to better protect all Americans from the growing threat of identity theft and other cyber crimes. The anti-cyber crime provisions are believed to be long over due. The new provisions are supported by the Department of Justice, Secret Service, US Chamber of Commerce, Symantec, the Cyber Security Alliance, the Business Software Alliance, Consumer Union, Consumer Federation of America, and the American Association of Retired Persons. Now that the bill has passed through the House of Representatives it has headed to the Senate. The new bill would:

• Give victims of identity theft the ability to seek restitution for the loss of time and money spent restoring credit and remedying the harms of identity theft.




• Enable prosecution of those who steal personal information from a computer even when the victim’s computer is located in the same state as the thief’s computer. Under current law, federal courts only have jurisdiction if the thief uses an interstate communication to access the victim’s computer.




• Eliminate the requirement that damage to a victim’s computer exceed $5,000 before charges can be brought for unauthorized access to a computer. The provision protects innocent actors while punishing violations resulting in less than $5,000 in damage as misdemeanors.




• Make it a felony to employ spyware or keyloggers to damage ten or more computers regardless of the aggregate amount of damage caused, ensuring that the most egregious identity thieves will not escape with a minimal, or no, sentence.




• Makes it a crime to threaten to steal or release information from a computer. Current law only permits the prosecution of those who seek to extort companies or government agencies by explicitly threatening to shut down or damage a computer. Violators of this provision are subject to a criminal fine and up to five years in prison.




• Add the remedies of civil and criminal forfeiture to the arsenal of tools available to federal prosecutors to combat cyber crime, and mandate that the U.S. Sentencing Commission review and update its guidelines for identity theft and other cyber crime offenses.

With the new provisions of the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act, hopefully we can help reduce the growing problems with identity theft and cyber crime in today.

Just when we thought that the drug problem in America today is bad enough to combat, new now have to worry about the junkies stealing our mail and assuming our identities to maintain their deadly habits. Meth use is compatible with the kind of concentration needed to be an identity thief. These theft rings are set up very much like any other organized crime activity with one goal in mind-more money and more meth!

Methamphetamine abusers and distributors are increasingly engaging in identity theft; meth abusers are doing so to acquire funds for drug purchases, while meth distributors are committing identity theft to generate income for use in their trafficking operations. It’s sickening to think that there are people in our country that actually enable these addicts for their own greedy purposes. Feed them meth and they do as you say-disturbing to say the very least.

Methamphetamine-related identity theft appears to occur most often in southwestern and western states where distribution and abuse of the drug are most common. In areas of the country where meth trafficking is increasing, such as in the Great Lakes, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic Regions, identity theft will quite likely increase, since the correlation appears to be greater than ever.

Some meth abusers engage in various forms of identity theft in order to feed their habits by sifting through victims’ trash, as well as through mail theft, car break-ins, and Internet and e-mail scams, known as phishing. Meth abusers often make cash by stealing and subsequently cashing personal checks or by using stolen credit cards to purchase merchandise that they sell for cash or trade for meth. An addict really will go to any lengths to support their high, which for most, it’s merely to feel “normal.” Some abusers also trade stolen credit cards or personal documents (such as checks, bank statements, workplace pay statements, etc.) to distributors in exchange for meth. The distributors then sell the stolen credit cards and documents or provide them to meth makers as payment for the drug.

With the growing rates of methamphetamine distribution and abuse, combined with meth-related identity theft, it’s very likely it will expose the public to other forms of fraud as meth traffickers find new ways to exploit stolen identification information. For instance, meth abusers may begin to use stolen identities to seek treatment for meth-related illnesses or may sell identities to individuals for their use in seeking medical treatment, prescription drugs, and even insurance payouts from a health insurance provider. Medical identity theft is an enormous issue in the healthcare industry already. Incorrect entries on a person’s medical record could lead to exclusion from certain types of employment, preclusion from acquiring health insurance, misdiagnoses, injury, and even death if the victim receives medical care based on incorrect information in his or her medical records. Could you imagine being refected of a job because of a medical record that did not represent your real health conditions?

Meth can be manufactured in small laboratories in suburban or rural areas, where addicts are more likely to steal mail from unlocked boxes. (If you dont need a key to get your mail, invest in a locked mailbox right away.) Small manufacturers then use the stolen identities to purchase the ingredients or pay rent without raising any red-flags. And because the drug has a long high, addicts have patience and energy for crimes that take several steps to pay off, unlike other drugs such cocaine, where the high is short and focusing steadily on one particular task for an extended period of time doesn’t exist. Meth allows the thieves to stay up for hours and days on end to perform the tasks in order to get their drugs or money.

Now can you understand why meth and identity theft are a match made in hell?

Millions of young people have made themselves vulnerable to identity theft as well as putting their professional prospects at risk by carelessly posting personal information on the Internet. Social networking is growing in popularity, however a recent study indicates that users of social networking websites engage in risky behavior, potentially putting themselves at risks to hackers and identity thieves. It’s all fun and games until someone becomes a victim-then the nightmare begins.

Below are two very popular networking sites that the younger generation particularly enjoys visiting and their risk involved.

Facebook - Users generally have to be friends to access each others’ profile pages, which increases privacy but lulls people into a false sense of security and does not protect users who accept friends whether they know them or not. Of particular concern is the wealth of personal information: 82% of Facebook users list their birth date, a security question often used by banks.

MySpace - Users tend to leave fewer personal details on their pages than Facebook but a much greater proportion of profile pages are accessible to everyone and users often let slip private details such as phone numbers or event addresses on profile walls. Because of its younger demographic, all pages registered to users under the age of 16 are private - but many young users choose to circumvent this by entering a false age. The flexibility of MySpace has been repeatedly exploited by rogue Internet users, including one who managed to redirect users to a site espousing conspiracy theories over the terror attacks of 11 September 2001. The site was hit by a string of security alerts and a bug within the past few years.

By impersonating a highly-reputable person, an attacker might gain access to that person’s social network, business contacts and private life. Spammers might launch highly personalized campaigns. And sexual predators could use their victims’ friend lists to find more people to harass. So please let’s not lose sight of the fact that adults too visit these networking sites. Some use them to keep in touch with friends and family, while others see it more as a means to contact new potential clients. Adults who use social networking sites may be putting themselves and their businesses at risk as well. Almost half of the people who have computer access engage in social networking at the office, potentially making the workplace vulnerable to online security threats. I do know of a lot of companies that have restricted sites such as MySpace for this very reason. If I were the boss I wouldn’t appreciate the fact that you were on my dollar surfing the net and potentially causing serious damage to the company. Try explaining that data breach to your boss! YIKES!

Social networking sites are popular among cyber crooks because a reliable social context improves the results of phishing attacks. The University of Indiana carried out a controlled phishing attack in 2005, targeting students who left contact data on social networking websites. The results showed that when users were contacted by someone they believed might know them; they were far more likely to provide personal details. Women were more vulnerable than men, and the success of the attacks improved when the phisher was a member of the opposite sex

Users of social-networking sites may already be linked to a cyber thief, according to Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, an Internet security firm: “The idea of six degrees of separation works on social networking sites as well. You’re probably only six clicks from a criminal, and you’re probably already linked to a cyber crook.”

I have a younger sister who uses MySpace and she had ALL of her personal information on her profile, without realizing the damage that could be done. Unless you’re up to date with identity theft, I’m not sure it would really cross your mind not to post your birth date, I mean, after all, that’s how you receive all of those wonderful birthday wishes from people you haven’t talked to in years! Let’s just say the only piece of personal info on her profile now is her first name.

According to social networks analyst Clay Shirky, identity spoofing is possibly the greatest threat to social discovery networks. “When your reputation is valuable, it becomes worth exploiting. It makes a stolen identity a more valuable commodity.”

Protecting yourself, as much as you can, from the fastest growing crime in America appears to be more of a need, than a want. Wouldn’t you agree?

Everyone knows that identity theft has become a serious problem for Americans today. However many people do not know that there are plenty of free resources available to help. By using these resources you can help eliminate yourself from becoming one of the millions of victims of identity theft each year.

To put an end to all the junk mail you receive on a daily basis you can choose to opt-out of pre-screened credit offers. This will stop companies from sending you pre-approved credit offers. Many thieves steal these pre-approved credit card offers out of your mailbox or your trash after throwing them away. You can visit the opt-out website at optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-567-8688. You can choose to opt-out for five years or permanently. At anytime in the future you can choose to opt back in if you would like to receive offers again.

To put an end to the annoying telemarketing calls you receive you can put yourself on the do not call list. This will stop people calling you in the middle of dinner to try and sell you something. Many skilled identity thieves will call you and pretend to be with respectable institutions to try and divulge personal information. They may say they are from your bank or even the IRS. To put your home phone or cell phone on the do not call list you can visit donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222. Telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the do not call list for 31 days.