Identity Theft

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Identity Theft
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(No Transcript)
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Facts about Identity Theft

• Identity theft is defined as the crime of
  obtaining the personal or financial information
  of another person for the purpose of assuming
  that person's name to make transactions or
  purchases.
• Identity theft is one of the fastest growing
  crimes in the world.
• Identity theft can come in many different forms,
  an illegal immigrant can take your social
  security number and your date of birth in order
  to obtain a birth certificate or for employment
  purposes.
• Identity theft can take months and sometimes even
  years to detect and can take the same amount of
  time to correct the damage caused.

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Ways for your identity to be stolen

• stealing records or information while they're on
  the job
• bribing an employee who has access to these
  records
• hacking these records
• conning information out of employees
• they may steal your mail, including bank and
  credit card statements, credit card offers, new
  checks, and tax information.
• they may rummage through your trash, the trash of
  businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice
  known as "dumpster diving."
• they may get your credit reports by abusing their
  employer's authorized access to them, or by
  posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else
  who may have a legal right to access your report.

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Ways for your Identity to be stolen

• they may steal your credit or debit card numbers
  by capturing the information in a data storage
  device in a practice known as "skimming." They
  may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or
  attach the device to an ATM machine where you may
  enter or swipe your card.
• they may steal your wallet or purse.
• they may complete a "change of address form" to
  divert your mail to another location.
• they may steal personal information they find in
  your home.
• they may steal personal information from you
  through email or phone by posing as legitimate
  companies and claiming that you have a problem
  with your account. This practice is known as
  "phishing" online, or pretexting by phone.

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Preventing Identity Theft

• Key ways to prevent Identity Theft
• Run a credit report on yourself to see if there
  are any unknown credit inquiries or unauthorized
  accounts
• Limit the number of credit cards you have to
  reduce exposure, and cancel any inactive accounts
  
• Never give any important number out like from
  your drivers license, credit card, bank account,
  date of birth or social security number to anyone
  you dont know over the telephone

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Preventing Identity Theft

• Shred your bank statements and any tax documents
  when you dispose of them
• Never leave your purse or wallet unattended, at
  work, at restaurants, at health fitness clubs, in
  your shopping cart, at church or at social
  gatherings. Never leave your purse or wallet in
  open view in your car, even when locked

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What to do if you become a victim

• Report the incident to the police immediately. If
  you know where your identification was stolen,
  that would be the correct police jurisdiction to
  report it to. Insist on being given a police
  report number a get a copy to encloses in
  correspondence with credit agencies
• Report all stolen cards to the issuers
  immediately and request that new card numbers.
  Always respond to written credit card receipt
  notifications received in the mail

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What to do if you become a victim

• Notify your bank in the event that your checks
  are stolen and request that your account be
  closed
• Be prepared to work with retailers who have been
  victimized by someone using your name to help
  mitigate their losses, if necessary

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Identity Theft Statistics

• Top 10 states with Identity Theft
• Location No of Victims
• California 15,115
• New York 7,076
• Texas 6,496
• Florida 5,696
• Illinois 3,784
• Pennsylvania 2,704
• Georgia 2,592
• Michigan 2,589
• New Jersey 2,575
• Ohio 2,283

• Victims now spend an average of 600 hours
  recovering from this crime, often over a period
  of years. Three years ago the average was 175
  hours of time, representing an increase of about
  2470.
• While victims are finding out about the crime
  more quickly, it is taking far longer than ever
  before to clear their records and recover from
  the situation.
• Based on the ITRC study, today the business
  community loses between 40,000 - 92,000 per
  name in fraudulent charges, based on reported
  fraud losses seen by surveyed victims.

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Identity Theft Statistics 2002

• Victims- FTC hotline reported 161,000 cases. In
  2002, there were estimated 1.2 million victims in
  the U.S.
• Types of Identity Theft Reported
• Credit Card Fraud- 50
• Unauthorized phone or Utility Services- 25
• Bank Fraud- 16
• Fraudulent Loans- 9
• Government Documents on Benefits- 8
• Other Identity Theft

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Most common forms of identity theft
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Work Cited Page

• http//www.creditinfocenter.com/identity/IDTheftSt
  ats.shtml
• http//www.consumer.gov/idtheft/index.html
• http//www.insideid.com/idtheft/article.php/343826
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• http//drakeshangout.com/