Roy Fenoff, PhD       Forensic Document Examiner

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identity theft

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In 2010, 11.1 million cases of identity theft occurred in the U.S. | The revenue from trafficking financial data [ID Theft] has surpassed that of drug trafficking – U.S. Secret Service, 2007 | 10 million social security numbers are bought and sold every month. | Every 3 seconds there is an ID theft victim - USA Today| In 2004, the AARP reported that over 400,000 dead people opened bank accounts. | More than 500 million checks are forged annually – Ernst & Young | Businesses across the world lose $221 billion annually to ID theft – Aberdeen Group | More than 35 million data records were compromised in corporate and government data breaches in 2008 – ITRC | 43% of ID theft victims knew the perpetrator – ITRC, 2004 | Consumer out-of-pocket cost due to id fraud increased 63 percent from 2009 to 2010 - Javelin Strategy & Research Report | From 2005 to April 29, 2011, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has documented 2,451 data breaches that have resulted in more than half a billion compromised personal information records - NSCI, 2011

what is identity theft?

According to the Federal Trade Commission identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.

The U.S. Department of Justice states that identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.

Unlike your fingerprints, which are unique to you and cannot be given to someone else for their use, your personal data ­ especially your Social Security number, your bank account or credit card number, your telephone calling card number, and other valuable identifying data ­ can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. In the United States and Canada, for example, many people have reported that unauthorized persons have taken funds out of their bank or financial accounts, or, in the worst cases, taken over their identities altogether, running up vast debts and committing crimes while using the victim’s names. In many cases, a victim's losses may include not only out-of-pocket financial losses, but substantial additional financial costs associated with trying to restore his reputation in the community and correcting erroneous information for which the criminal is responsible.

Click here for a description of the 5 most common types of identity theft.

Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act (1998)

In the fall of 1998, Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. This legislation created a new offense of identity theft, which prohibits knowingly transfer[ring] or us[ing], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law.

18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(7). This offense, in most circumstances, carries a maximum term of 15 years' imprisonment, a fine, and criminal forfeiture of any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offense.

Schemes to commit identity theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1028), credit card fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1029), computer fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1030), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), or financial institution fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344). Each of these federal offenses are felonies that carry substantial penalties ­ in some cases, as high as 30 years' imprisonment, fines, and criminal forfeiture.

This information was obtained from the Federal Trade Commission.

For more information and further assistance please call Roy at (307) 399-5532, or send him an email to expert@royfenoff.com

 

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