Whats up with Identity Theft?

[Suburbanite]

I had my identity stolen once. The bank called, they said someone took out 5k from your account was it you? and I said no. And then everything sort of just easily resolved itself and I didn't lose any money.
As far as I know, this guy who got the money never got caught. How do you steal people's identity? It sounds like such easy money. Whats the scam? Is it even real? Or do banks just make this shit up to somehow run an even bigger insurance scam?

[Jack]

A lot of good info here (Identity Theft Resources) on this very real problem.

* The number of US adult victims of identity fraud decreased from 10.1 million in 2003 and 9.3 million in 2005 to 8.4 million in 2007. * Total one year fraud amount decreased from $55.7 billion in 2006 to $49.3 billion in 2007. * The mean fraud amount per fraud victim decreased from $6,278 in 2006 to $5,720 in 2007. * The mean resolution time was at a high of 40 hours per victim in 2006 and was reduced in 2007 to 25 hours per victim. The median resolution time has remained the same for each Survey year at 5 hours per victim. * The number of US adult victims of identity fraud decreased from 10.1 million in 2003 and 9.3 million in 2005 to 8.9 million in 2006. * Total one year fraud amount rose from $53.2 billion in 2003 and $54.4 billion in 2005 to $56.6 billion in 2006. * The mean fraud amount per fraud victim rose from $5,316 in 2003 and $5,993 in 2005 to $6,278 in 2006. * The mean resolution time is at a high of 40 hours per victim in 2006 compared to 28 hours in 2005 and 33 hours in 2003. * Within the last twelve months, 9.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft. * The total U.S. annual identity fraud cost remains essentially unchanged since [the FTC's] 2003 [results], at $52.6 Billion, an increase of 2.3% from the 2003 inflation-adjusted level of $51.4 Billion. * Most thieves still obtain personal information through traditional rather than electronic channels. In the cases where the method was known, 68.2% of information was obtained off-line versus only 11.6% obtained online. * Conventional methods such as through lost or stolen wallets, misappropriation by family and friends, and theft of paper mail are among the most common ways thieves gain access to information.

[Kittsil]

Yeah, ID theft is real. There are many different ways that people pull it off, but the basic idea is that they somehow get your vital information and convince the bank that they are you.

Ways to get your information include:
-hacking into store databases, online databases (like Paypal (don't worry, it's really secure)), or any other place where your information is stored.
-pharming, or sending scam emails "from your bank" that require you to go to "your bank website" and login, but it's not really your bank website it's a farce.
-phishing, or sending you emails that require information
-somehow getting you to believe that you are applying for a part time job and giving your "employer" your information.
-probably the most common, using a Trojan program or other virus to hack your computer and watch what you are doing.

[Milton Bradley]

I often wonder if there are any illegals using my SS number. I haven't used it for quite some time now, and with the scope of the problem, one just can't help but wonder.

[Jack]

Does everyone pay attention to what the person behind them at the ATM is doing as they punch in their PIN number, or look around to see if anyone is videotaping near the machine?
Like the stat's show, low tech is still the predominant means of stealing your info. Do you shred papers before throwing them away that contain account numbers, SSN's, logins? Going through the garbage can be very rewarding.

[Suburbanite]

yeah I mean, the guy hacked into my account. I don't use it for online purchases. I dont imagine he could get my card number and pin from a store... stores dont store the pin.

[tivodan1116]

Quote by: Suburbanite yeah I mean, the guy hacked into my account. I don't use it for online purchases. I dont imagine he could get my card number and pin from a store... stores dont store the pin.

He probably just shoulder-surfed you - got the pin from a time when you entered it in.

Could have been an employee of a store you visited - places i worked used to have it all the time. Employees would swipe the card and make an imprint of it on a piece of paper, then when you punched in your pin to complete the ATM/Debit card purchase, they would simply watch what you punched in and wham - got it.

The cards are easy enough to get.



The real increase in "ID Theft" in the 90s and 2000s was due to many new crimes being classified by this previously undefined term. Before the internet age, crimes like the above would just be "stealing" not "ID Theft".

[chankya]

Quote by: Suburbanite I had my identity stolen once. The bank called, they said someone took out 5k from your account was it you? and I said no. And then everything sort of just easily resolved itself and I didn't lose any money.

Well i just want to say that you are lucky as you does not lose any money, but i know a couple of people who do lose 2K from the online account and the hacker who get into the account just could not get arrested. So i just want to say that keep your online account and credit/debit card as much you can.

[saucie]

It's always better safe than sorry with identity theft. You should check your credit report at least once a year, especially since you can get a free annual credit report now. Any inquiries or credit lines issued (obviously) that you did not authorize should send red flags.

Believe me, you don't want to go through identity theft, even if you don't lose out monetarily. The authorities are extremely slow to act on your behalf, and it is a real inconvenience to have a fraud alert placed to credit reporting agencies. Then, if your credit identity was stolen, you have to deal with finding every single thing the identity theft did using your identity, taking the many inquiries off your credit report, closing the many accounts opened in your name, making sure all this doesn't negatively affect your credit, and then making sure this type of thing doesn't happen again, or that the person who stole your identity does not continue to use it even after you've discovered it.

To give the scope of this inconvenience, I had my identity stolen and I put in the time to find out who did it and how. I know exactly who stole my identity and all of this person's personal information, as well as the names and information of all the people who consorted with this person to steal my identity. I've given the information to my local police department, where I filed a report, to the police department where the thief lives, the DA's office of that county, the Sheriff's department of that county, and the Federal unit (something in the FBI), and absolutely nothing has been done to apprehend or otherwise inhibit this person. I'm considering calling the local news so I can light a fire under someone's ass.

[Jack]

From the "Learning the hard way" file:

TV star publishes bank details in anti-privacy editorial, gets ripped off Jeremy Clarkson, a presenter for Top Gear on British TV, wrote a newspaper editorial that accused privacy activists of being hysterical over giant data-leaks (such as the British government repeatedly losing CDs bearing the financial details for 25 million households). To prove that identity theft wasn't a big deal, he included his bank account details in the article. Whereupon someone promptly began making fraudulent withdrawals from his account. Clarkson, 47, writing in his column in the Sunday Times, decried the furore last year after CDs disappeared containing the banking details of 7 million families. The loss led to fears of mass identity theft with people's bank accounts open to internet scams. At the time he wrote: "I have never known such a palaver about nothing. The fact is we happily hand over cheques to all sorts of unsavoury people all day long without a moment's thought. We have nothing to fear." However, yesterday he told readers he had opened his bank statement to find a direct debit had been set up in his name and £500 taken out of his account. "The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again," he said. "I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake."

TV star publishes bank details in anti-privacy editorial, gets ripped off - Boing Boing

[Compugasm]

ID Theft has happend to me three times in the last 7yrs. This dude in the next apartment complex kept breaking into my mailbox. I went to police and the whole bit. My story mirrors saucie exactly. The only way I got it to stop, is to get a PO Box at the post office.

I've tried many times to stop companies from sending me statements to begin with, but somehow they can't figure out how to do that. Credit Card companies are the worst, because they include pre-filled out checks with the statements. All someone has to do, is sign your name. It's basically free money and no chance of gettng caught.

[DCAPBTLS77]

I feel bad for the poor stupid moron that tries to steal MY identity, it would be great revenge on anyone that tries, I owe money to like everyone in the world, and have crappy credit , due to an ex..please someone steal my identity!!!!!