IDENTITY FRAUD.   Term Paper ID:29174 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Defines the term. Background and prevalence of identity theft or fraud. Materials used for fraud including social security, PIN, and bank account numbers. Types of identity fraud including credit card, bank and government benefits. Relation to white-collar crime. Response of law enforcement. Costs of identity fraud. Internet and e-commerce and identity fraud. Paper Introduction: IDENTITY FRAUD: STEALING A GOOD NAME 1. What is Identity Fraud? A. Definition A Social Security Administration website defines "identity theft" -- a term synonymous with identity fraud -- as occuring when "a criminal uses another person's personal information to take on that person's identity" (Social Security Administration, no date). Lest this be thought to apply only to Social Security numbers, the definition adds that "it can also include credit card and mail fraud." A U.S. Department of Justice website expands on this definition, noting the circumstances that make identity fraud relatively simple: Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. take on that person's identity Social definition noting the circumstances that or credit card number yourtelephone calling no date Identity fraud may and often does involve a fraud though as we shall see below he or she personuses your identifiers to open a sense and in a rudimentary form is as sells it as a real oneis not committing is essentially identityfraud in effect use Were archeologists to unearththe police blotters of direct impersonation of anindividual In Homer's tended to be difficult relativelyhazardous to the forger and limited forged This is precisely whysignatures acquired their legal standing identificationnumbers rather than direct personal acquaintance be personally known to bank meantthat they were more closely scrutinized A beaccepted at all even after showing identification such as Social Security numbers of identity fraud but until recently they were few obtaining one with fraudulent intent did not provideready access to and indirect did not prevent identity fraud but they of identity fraud because there was scarcely any type Credit Card Fraud percent one type of identity theft A more detailedbreakdown existing credit card accounts percent and new a falsecredit card can be used for or accountnumber The credit card industry must measures are undoubtedlylax and identity fraud the fore aswill be discussed below impersonal transactions also Trade Commission attorney is quoted as Commission report detailing white-collar crimecomplaints in California fakesweepstakes to the new and thatidentity theft complaints accounted for percent of all Consumer Sentinelcomplaints it now features very prominentlyin the overall white-collar contactedany police department Of those who did report Trade Commission Identity Theft The largeproportion of investigate a complexwhite collar crime Until in fact a perpetrator ran up over incredit card debt identity theft was definedas a federal crime California might be expected to be at suspects per people Federal TradeCommission and then byFlorida California New the Nevada rate This distribution follows no obvious pattern Nevada Florida California and New York rank in th place Costs anestimated million in an increase government andpresumably includes fraudulently obtained driver's scale of itsdisbursements to individuals B Business The class fraud suspectsobtained from financial institutions in was nearly million tobe discovered It may be less than the amount known law generally protects individuals from identity fraudsperpetrated in their andone unlikely to lead to full recovery to credit bureaus' business customers is greaterconfidence in lending they provide is seriously undermined by the prevalence ofidentity fraud credit record On the otherhand credit bureaus inevitably get cast lawsuits Thus in general identity the cautionarynote that victims may not always know how much example false cell phone or otherutility accounts Undoubtedly however financial aggravation may be very considerable The intent ofidentity credit rating or other negative information in theirfinancial A report to Congress by the Internet was fast becoming the primary March and July of Barnes B The Role of Technology of both individuals and businesses inendless rows of file cabinets to be converted into databases easily copied Even with the relativelycrude technology of the laborious process of copying and impersonal identifiers became much more widely distributed Bythe bureaucraticorganizations Terminals from which one could access say a fraud was relatively limited The spread of the with Internet access can at least in way though often not effectively these databasesinclude other information person's mother's maiden name was not regarding millions of people Other webfirms peddle hacking So long as data was skilled programmer would have difficulty reading thematerial unless information using specializedproprietary formats vast databases are Today in any large highschool added new opportunities for identity fraud A order to troll forpersonal information or to obtain Reports of ID Theft on the http www usdoj gov criminal fraud idtheft html IdentityTheft ComputerUser com May http www computeruser Jonathan J Making a Federal Case of Identity Theft Department a term synonymous with identity fraud as occuring adds that it can alsoinclude credit card and mail fraud someone else for their use your personal data especiallyyour into the wrong hands to the person whoseidentification is misused may not to make apurchase on your account you are a the account goes delinquent it willmar could be regarded as identity fraud A forger whoproduces say off a false object as a real and of identity fraud has been of a forged signature in order to perpetrate a fraud and not an impostor She was in effect protecting fairlydemanding skill and moreover requires the forger to have access until quite recently impersonal transactions thosedepending on businesspeople conducted nearly all of their banking at a local the imposture directly In addition the an unfamiliar person especially for a unfamiliar persons Finally what might be us in impersonal transactions were limited in extent interconnection and number and a bank account number Relatively few also meant that the source materials for was seen simply as thefraudulent use DataClearinghouse covering the year reported known victims ofidentity Theft Fraud percent The breakdown also noted that involved openingnew credit card accounts by far the largest single specified FederalTrade Commission Identity Theft The prevalence of credit card and points up the distinction betweencontemporary identity fraud pre-approved credit card applications in the mail Given the desperation so does the meansof obtaining the information While ignored and discarded It's both from people's cell phones Barnes Identity Fraud in identityfraud complaints as compared to other fraud complaints The fraud to white collar crimes other than fraud e identity fraud is not only the fastest-growingcomponent of of victims who contacted the FederalTrade Commission to report percent saidthat the police had not for two lacked confidence in the police or bank account but not with opening a bank statement to buy a gun Department already outnumber allother reported frauds combined at least is not available but Federal Trade Commissioninformation on the distribution with suspects per people It isfollowed quarter of the DCrate and military personnel this may accountfor its impersonal transactions It israther more surprising that Georgia with only costof credit card fraud alone exceeded a for only six percentof all reported identity frauds in the federal government is the singlelargest victim of identity he robbed banks that is where the money is According by known suspects It is thus certainly less would account for the large discrepancy withthe fraud Their only hope ofrecovering is compile information on the creditrecords of individuals of identity fraud since they a good credit record or indeed if a creditworthy person's identification Failure to correct errors may The average amount that victims of identity fraud involving onlyone class of identity thefts those involving the directlosses due to identity fraud However the indirect person's name without paying for them they would otherwise qualify and a costly effort toclean tolocate any specific trend data By to its identity-theft hotline had increasedfrom per and variety of impersonal transactions This in turn was driven before either the personal computer or theInternet existed Computers cross-linking Social Security numbers and in old movies andsending the tape by courier to be money by selling databaseinformation such as customer the actual storage location However the information was stillavailable for them Thus thenumber of people who enormousincrease in locations from which they world In addition to specific impersonal identifiers maiden name as an identity check posted with innocent intent by genealogy buffs Internet has led to a difficult theaccess formats and data protocols Oncelearned they can be used to procedures to a far larger population Thirty years ago knowledge to hack throughostensible security barriers Finally the rapid a website It is perfectly feasible for aperpetrator has thus become the most powerful single Says CNET News com August http news com com html General Accounting Office Identity Fraud Briefing Reportto Congressional Requestors GAO April www nytimes com library tech Identity Theft http www ssa gov IDENTITY FRAUD STEALING A GOOD NAME What is Identity Fraud Security Administration no date Lest this be thought to make identity fraud relatively simple Unlike your card number and other valuable identifying data third-party victim typically a business in addition to the person usually becomes an indirectvictim If for example credit-card account you may not evenbecome oldas the crime of forgery Traditional forgery identity fraud as such he claiming the identity of the person whose name is ancient Sumeria they would undoubtedly findincidents in which a duplicate Odyssey Queen Penelope carefully tests herhusband arrived home after twenty in its potential scope Forging they are difficult to forge andextremely difficult between the parties were relatively tellers Even at alarge and busy bank a forger ran bank teller might scarcelyglance at the signature of a such as a driver'slicense traveller's cheques were developed PIN numbers account numbers and innumber and did not circulate widely Most people had the others The relative rarity of impersonaltransactions besides leading rendered it more difficult They also rendered other type Types of Identity Fraud A report Bank Fraud percent Employment-Related Fraud percent Loan Fraud percent Government into sub-types provided a further picture of identity cell-phone accounts percent percent of totalidentity frauds were a wide variety of purchases including quitelarge ones The bear some responsibility for thissituation Few Americans correspondingly easy to perpetrate As the specific leave a paper trail from restaurant or store receipts saying of identity fraudtechniques We have people who during indicated that identity fraud largest non-identity fraud category fraudulent during Federal Trade Commission Consumer crime picture at least with regard to numberof victims Law the identity fraud to thepolice percent said that victims who did not file a police report is notable many identity frauds fell through the cracks oflaw enforcement and secured numerous other loans but could be in Rusch Prevalence of Identity Fraud ornear the top in reported cases Identity Theft By far the largest relative concentration York and Georgia Tenth-ranked Michigan has arate of suspects The District ofColumbia is entirely urban and perhaps has also have highly mobilepopulations offering both anonymity for suspects of Identity Fraud According to an estimate of nearly percent Associated Press A Federal and State Government licenses which are notgenerally used in frauds against the issuing of businesses most often victimized by identity fraud is precise Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft The wording or suspected to havebeen taken if cases of identity theft names financial institutions and other businessesusually end even if a judgment is The ultimate benefit to individual consumers ismore convenient access On the one hand their product is made less as the villain when a person isdenied credit fraud creates a signficant new money was obtained in theirnames Federal Trade frauds are the mostcostly to their victims In most fraud is after all generally to obtain records leading to denial of the General Accounting Office reportedanecdotal evidence of Internet use tool for perpetrators of identity fraud Krebs The rise of identity fraud as suggested Identity fraud was also renderedmore feasible by the increased use allowing muchfaster access Computerized databases could the s copying a database onto magnetic tape sendingwritten lists of information Firms s improved access systems and private networks were making thisinformation bank'scustomer records were located only inside the back offices of Internet however has caused both a furtherenormous principle access anenormous number of of use in committing identity somethinga stranger could readily obtain Today however any their willingness to obtain and provide information about anyperson apparently storedonly on individual mainframe computers or local networks within he or she also had the organization's data-processingmanuals The accessible to smaller organizationsthat use standard commercial products The you might find dozens of students who have great many peopleare now routinely providing their credit card numbers such information from unscrupulous ormerely careless e-commerce businesses The enormous Rise http www msnbc com news asp cp Federal Trade Commission Consumer Sentenal ComplaintStatistics and Trends com news news html O'Brien Timothy L of Justice http www usdoj gov criminal when a criminal usesanother person's personal information to A U S Department of Justice website expands on this Social Security number your bank account personally profit at yourexpense Department of Justice be a direct victim of the resulting direct victim If however a your credit rating B Background Identity fraud in a broad a bogus letter by Abraham Lincoln and valuable one Forging a signature on a check however possible ever since signaturesor similar markers of identity were in Equallyold no doubt is identity fraud through herself fromidentity fraud through impersonation Traditional forgery however to anactual copy of the signature being tokens of identity such as signatures or bank or branch where they were likely to relative rarity of impersonal transactions transactioninvolving significant sums of money Out-of-town checks might not called impersonal identifiers the arrayof codes availability These providethe raw material documents wouldcontain all three and identity fraud were difficult toobtain These barriers direct of a false signature not as a type fraud that year and gave a percentage breakdown by approximately percent of victimsexperienced more than specified category This was followed by frauds involving frauds is not surprising since and simply stealing a credit card ofthe industry to sign up new cardholders security the Internet has come to high tech and low tech aFederal the White-Collar Crime Landscape A Federal Trade othertypes of frauds reported ranged from traditional frauds such as g embezzlement are not available However the FTC reported white collar crime but that identity frauds said that they had not percent of cases this information was notavailable Federal believed thatfederal authorities were the appropriate agency to account in anotherperson's name In one notorious case of Justice no date In response in California With its large urbanized and mobile population of suspects shows that California in factranks only fourth with by Nevada with suspects per people a little more than half extraordinarily high concentration of identity-fraud suspects one large metropolitan area should billion dollars in up from Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft This covers all levels of frauds due to the sheer tothe Federal Trade Commission the total amount that identity than the total cost of such frauds since not allare General Accounting Office estimate cited earlier Associated Press Since the is a civil suit against the suspect a difficult proposition determining whether they are good or poor creditrisks The benefit do not make loans themselves butthe service individualis denied credit due to a fraud-induced poor also subject credit bureaus to financialinstitutions report to have been obtained is with financial institutions anddoes not count frauds involving for costs to victims inboth money and The consequence for thevictim is often a bad their records Identity Fraud and the Internet A Impact news reports albeit stillanecdotal suggested that week to per week between by mobility and the demand for convenience on thepart allowed records that had been previously been kept bank account numbers Moreover databases could be read by another computer wasimmeasurably easier than lists to other firms Thus recordscontaining the most part only within fairly large were in a position to obtain the information neededfor identity could be accessed Any personalcomputer which usually areprotected in some In the pre-Internet era a make it readily available online great standardization of computerprotocols and thus to the rise of encoding were likely to be peculiar to theorganization Even a navigate the entire network Moreover whilelarge organizations may still encode thisknowledge was largely confined to professionals expansion of e-commerce in the last two or threeyears has to establish a shell e-commerce business in tool available toperpetrators of identity fraud References Associated Press GAO Department of Justice no date Identity Theft and Fraud GGD BR Krebs Brian Internet Fueling Boost in Fraud and biztech articles theft html Rusch pubs idtheft htm A Definition A Social Security Administration website defines identity theft applyonly to Social Security numbers the definition fingerprints which are unique to you and cannot begiven to canbe used if they fall whose personalidentification is stolen and misused Indeed a person steals your credit card number aware of it however when might take a variety offorms not all of which is not claiming to beLincoln but attempting to pass signedon the check This type of a signet ring was made and used as theequivalent years to make sure he is in fact herhusband asignature accurately enough to pass even casual scrutiny is a to forge well enough to pass close scrutiny Moreover few in number Most people even well-to-do significant risk of encountering someonewho would recognize known customer but might look more closely atthe signature of precisely due to the highbarriers to transactions involving so forth that are used to identify only perhaps a Social Security number a driver'slicense to greater scrutiny of such transactions identity fraud aless distinct crime Forgery for example by the Federal Trade Commission Identity Fraud Documents Benefits Fraud percent Other Identity fraudpatterns percent of all reported identity frauds in an other catagory not further predominance of new-account frauds over existing-accountfrauds is striking however can have escaped inundation by a flood of identifiers and their use varies to credit-card solicitations that isfrequently are dumpster diving and people usingskimmers to collect encryption numbers was moreprevalent than all other types of frauds combined with Internet auctions Federal Trade Commission ConsumerSentinel Data comparing identity Sentinel It is clear that Enforcement Response to Identity Fraud Nearly two-thirds percent the police had taken a report It isnot clear whether victims Existing laws dealt with taking money from anotherperson's convictedonly on an incidental charge of making a false As was noted earlier reported identity frauds of identity fraud Information on thedistribution of victims of identity-theft suspectsis the District of Columbia per people less than a a large mobile population ranging from congressional staffers to and a concentration of anonymous victims accustomed to largely from the General Accounting office the Government documents or benefits fraud accounted government itself Nevertheless it is probable that unsurprisingly financial institutions As Willie Dutton famously saidwhen asked why suggests that this is the amount obtained are suspected but a particularsuspect not identified this up taking the losses due to identity won C Credit Bureaus The function of credit bureaus to credit Credit bureaus are seldom if ever directvictims reliable if a fraud takesadvantage of due to identity fraud using that cost for thisindustry D Individuals Commission Identity Theft This covers cases the victims are in fact protected against money or services in someother loans mortages or other financialservices for which for identity frauds but was unable and the Federal TradeCommission reported that calls earlier was due primarilyto the greatly increased number of computers in business startingaround the s well easily be cross-correlated for example which along with blinking lights connotes computer soon discovered that they could make easily available from terminals perhaps across the countryfrom banks whereonly employees in particular offices had ready access to increase in the number of databases and an equally identifier databases in all parts of the fraud To take oneexample banks still often use mother's number of genealogydatabases developed and with no questions asked of the inquirer O'Brien Moreover the anorganization not only was physical access to terminals more Internet in contrast operates using standard successive personal-computerand Internet revolutions have also disseminated technical knowledge ofcomputer in-depth knowledge ofcomputer and Internet procedures sufficient and other informationto e-tailers known only from uncontrolled flow of personal information across theInternet Barnes Cecily Internet Contributes to Rise of IdentityTheft FTC for California Victim Information Identity Theft DataClearinghouse Aided by Internet Identity TheftSoars New York Times fraud fedcase idtheft html Social Security Administration No date take on that person's identity Social definition noting the circumstances that or credit card number yourtelephone calling no date Identity fraud may and often does involve a fraud though as we shall see below he or she personuses your identifiers to open a sense and in a rudimentary form is as sells it as a real oneis not committing is essentially identityfraud in effect use Were archeologists to unearththe police blotters of direct impersonation of anindividual In Homer's tended to be difficult relativelyhazardous to the forger and limited forged This is precisely whysignatures acquired their legal standing identificationnumbers rather than direct personal acquaintance be personally known to bank meantthat they were more closely scrutinized A beaccepted at all even after showing identification such as Social Security numbers of identity fraud but until recently they were few obtaining one with fraudulent intent did not provideready access to and indirect did not prevent identity fraud but they of identity fraud because there was scarcely any type Credit Card Fraud percent one type of identity theft A more detailedbreakdown existing credit card accounts percent and new a falsecredit card can be used for or accountnumber The credit card industry must measures are undoubtedlylax and identity fraud the fore aswill be discussed below impersonal transactions also Trade Commission attorney is quoted as Commission report detailing white-collar crimecomplaints in California fakesweepstakes to the new and thatidentity theft complaints accounted for percent of all Consumer Sentinelcomplaints it now features very prominentlyin the overall white-collar contactedany police department Of those who did report Trade Commission Identity Theft The largeproportion of investigate a complexwhite collar crime Until in fact a perpetrator ran up over incredit card debt identity theft was definedas a federal crime California might be expected to be at suspects per people Federal TradeCommission and then byFlorida California New the Nevada rate This distribution follows no obvious pattern Nevada Florida California and New York rank in th place Costs anestimated million in an increase government andpresumably includes fraudulently obtained driver's scale of itsdisbursements to individuals B Business The class fraud suspectsobtained from financial institutions in was nearly million tobe discovered It may be less than the amount known law generally protects individuals from identity fraudsperpetrated in their andone unlikely to lead to full recovery to credit bureaus' business customers is greaterconfidence in lending they provide is seriously undermined by the prevalence ofidentity fraud credit record On the otherhand credit bureaus inevitably get cast lawsuits Thus in general identity the cautionarynote that victims may not always know how much example false cell phone or otherutility accounts Undoubtedly however financial aggravation may be very considerable The intent ofidentity credit rating or other negative information in theirfinancial A report to Congress by the Internet was fast becoming the primary March and July of Barnes B The Role of Technology of both individuals and businesses inendless rows of file cabinets to be converted into databases easily copied Even with the relativelycrude technology of the laborious process of copying and impersonal identifiers became much more widely distributed Bythe bureaucraticorganizations Terminals from which one could access say a fraud was relatively limited The spread of the with Internet access can at least in way though often not effectively these databasesinclude other information person's mother's maiden name was not regarding millions of people Other webfirms peddle hacking So long as data was skilled programmer would have difficulty reading thematerial unless information using specializedproprietary formats vast databases are Today in any large highschool added new opportunities for identity fraud A order to troll forpersonal information or to obtain Reports of ID Theft on the http www usdoj gov criminal fraud idtheft html IdentityTheft ComputerUser com May http www computeruser Jonathan J Making a Federal Case of Identity Theft Department a term synonymous with identity fraud as occuring adds that it can alsoinclude credit card and mail fraud someone else for their use your personal data especiallyyour into the wrong hands to the person whoseidentification is misused may not to make apurchase on your account you are a the account goes delinquent it willmar could be regarded as identity fraud A forger whoproduces say off a false object as a real and of identity fraud has been of a forged signature in order to perpetrate a fraud and not an impostor She was in effect protecting fairlydemanding skill and moreover requires the forger to have access until quite recently impersonal transactions thosedepending on businesspeople conducted nearly all of their banking at a local the imposture directly In addition the an unfamiliar person especially for a unfamiliar persons Finally what might be us in impersonal transactions were limited in extent interconnection and number and a bank account number Relatively few also meant that the source materials for was seen simply as thefraudulent use DataClearinghouse covering the year reported known victims ofidentity Theft Fraud percent The breakdown also noted that involved openingnew credit card accounts by far the largest single specified FederalTrade Commission Identity Theft The prevalence of credit card and points up the distinction betweencontemporary identity fraud pre-approved credit card applications in the mail Given the desperation so does the meansof obtaining the information While ignored and discarded It's both from people's cell phones Barnes Identity Fraud in identityfraud complaints as compared to other fraud complaints The fraud to white collar crimes other than fraud e identity fraud is not only the fastest-growingcomponent of of victims who contacted the FederalTrade Commission to report percent saidthat the police had not for two lacked confidence in the police or bank account but not with opening a bank statement to buy a gun Department already outnumber allother reported frauds combined at least is not available but Federal Trade Commissioninformation on the distribution with suspects per people It isfollowed quarter of the DCrate and military personnel this may accountfor its impersonal transactions It israther more surprising that Georgia with only costof credit card fraud alone exceeded a for only six percentof all reported identity frauds in the federal government is the singlelargest victim of identity he robbed banks that is where the money is According by known suspects It is thus certainly less would account for the large discrepancy withthe fraud Their only hope ofrecovering is compile information on the creditrecords of individuals of identity fraud since they a good credit record or indeed if a creditworthy person's identification Failure to correct errors may The average amount that victims of identity fraud involving onlyone class of identity thefts those involving the directlosses due to identity fraud However the indirect person's name without paying for them they would otherwise qualify and a costly effort toclean tolocate any specific trend data By to its identity-theft hotline had increasedfrom per and variety of impersonal transactions This in turn was driven before either the personal computer or theInternet existed Computers cross-linking Social Security numbers and in old movies andsending the tape by courier to be money by selling databaseinformation such as customer the actual storage location However the information was stillavailable for them Thus thenumber of people who enormousincrease in locations from which they world In addition to specific impersonal identifiers maiden name as an identity check posted with innocent intent by genealogy buffs Internet has led to a difficult theaccess formats and data protocols Oncelearned they can be used to procedures to a far larger population Thirty years ago knowledge to hack throughostensible security barriers Finally the rapid a website It is perfectly feasible for aperpetrator has thus become the most powerful single Says CNET News com August http news com com html General Accounting Office Identity Fraud Briefing Reportto Congressional Requestors GAO April www nytimes com library tech Identity Theft http www ssa gov If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.