Identityfraudresources.com

Criminal Identity Theft Is Almost Unstoppable

Criminal Identity Theft or, the “money is no object” type of cyber identity theft, to us, is the most destructive.

This crime leaves not just credit scores and ratings in devastation, it can destroy an individual’s character as well as easily place them on the wrong side of prison walls.

This fact alone makes the crime of Identity Fraud something to worry about, not just a “faceless crime” as many id thieves claim in their defense.

Some Identity Theft Facts

Here are some facts gleaned from the odd identity theft attorney newsletter and the Federal Trade Commission website.

Many identities obtained through computer identity theft are often used to perpetrate heinous crimes including acts of terrorism.

Ramsey Yousef, suspected mastermind of the 1st World Trade Center bombing in 1993, was caught with dozens of stolen identities, passports, and driver’s licenses. A short time after that bombing, and before he was caught, he had used a fake identification card to board a Philippines Airline Jumbo Jet to plant a liquid bomb, hidden in a bottle of contact lens fluid.

The bomb later exploded over the Sea of Japan but did not bring the plane down.

Everybody knows that it doesn’t make sense to commit a crime in your own name, don’t we? Stolen personal information is often used to produce fake military identification cards, obtain driver’s licenses and passports, sustain illegal immigration, garner illegal employment, and of course, the old staple, foster espionage. These are all, of course variations of criminal identity theft.

How serious is it to have a felony committed in your name? Serious enough that victims of identity theft themselves have been arrested, even jailed, for crimes they did not commit. Just think about any one of your favorite identity theft commercial. They are quite accurate.

Ever been audited by the IRS and tried to explain that the extra income you haven’t paid taxes on was as a result of bank identity theft? Did they believe you?

Here’s a real identity theft story. Across the nation, people have been confronted, arrested and otherwise humiliated for crime they did not commit. Someone else used their personal information and did them the honors.

Their only hope was that the real criminal had left some trace of evidence behind, fingerprints, etc, that would absolutely clear their name. Identity theft court cases abound where fraud victims are literally considered the perpetrators until they can clear themselves. The question remains, what happens when they cannot prove this?

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a non-profit consumer information and advocacy program out of San Diego, California, mentioned in one of their identity theft articles, a case where a major drug dealer used the identity of a high-tech company president to do his “business”.

As a result of this criminal’s use of the stolen identity, the executive, who often travel outside the United States, has to carry a letter from law enforcement to explain that he is not the fugitive drug dealer. His name is now flagged for inspection each and every time he returns to the US after travel abroad.

Law enforcement from another state even entered his bedroom one morning and tried to arrest him at gunpoint! We can guarantee you that this must not have been a fun experience!

Did it really matter that he was just an unfortunate id theft victim? Not really.

Operation Protect The Children” in Utah, showed that as of July 2006, there was an escalating crime spree taking place that involved the identities of children under 12.

Why you must protect your children from criminal Identity theft. NOW!

As if jeopardizing adults was not bad enough, Criminal Identity Theft is quickly moving into the realm of children’s ID’s. Some experts are expressing the fear that child identity theft figures are vastly understated, since most young victims do not discover the crime for years, maybe not until they are old enough to apply for a driver’s license or a student loan.

Identity thieves treat personal data from children and data from adults the same way, with one distinction. They will use children’s personal information create NEW credit accounts and new identities for anyone willing to pay for them. These could potentially last for years without being discovered.

Adult victims tend to discover the crime much sooner, therefore the focus is on rapid and massive action to take advantage of established credit ratings. The end result is, the crime is much more serious for children in the end.

According to a Report in July, 2006 from the aforementioned ‘Operation Protect The Children’ in Utah, there is an alarming crime spree going on involving stolen identities from victims under 12 years of age.

In a joint investigation by the Utah’s Attorney General, the Office of Inspector General for the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, state records show that for every 1,800 Social Security Numbers belonging to children, 13 have been compromised.

This is in one year, for one state, AND those are only the figures they can verify! It should be clear from these stats that reporting fraud should be high on everyone’s list, whether a parent or not.

What steps have you taken to protect your children from criminal identity theft the next time they get online to chat? The most popular “meeting place” this year (2006), is Myspace.com, and not surprisingly, it is also one of the most popular “phishing” sites.

Unsuspecting potential fraud victims leave volumes of personal information on the social sites’ servers, making them very attractive targets for id thieves. What are you doing to protect your child from criminal identity theft when they venture online?