Identity Theft, Essay Example

With telecommunications advancing virtually exponentially, the increased reliance people place on online interactions of a financial nature has opened the door for the new breed of crime known as identity theft. The motives for the crime  are, moreover, more varied than might be imagined. Economic gain is foremost among them, not unexpectedly; access to an individual’s banking data provides an avenue for stealing funds. This also permits an additional crime, or motive, in that the identity thief, through rampant misuse of another’s finances, may destroy that victim’s credit. A more personal motive, it nonetheless has been identified with the crime (Van der Hof, Groothuis, 2011,  p. 409.) The other, most prevalent reason for identity theft is that of criminal concealment. The new and stolen identity serves to protect the criminal from charges and/or capture, particularly in a world so reliant upon technologically-driven forms of identification.

The single, most effective weapon against identity theft is personal awareness. That is to say, the understanding within an individual that the crime may be attempted on them sets in motion a general and necessary psychology of caution. The aware person  then pause before providing any personal information to any source requesting it, first determining if the relaying of the information is essential, and how it may be kept secure (Hoffman, McGinley,  2009,  p. 74). Ongoing and rapid advances in technologies have very much rendered identity theft an “arms race” between criminals and victims;  merely knowing that the danger is real, then, goes a long way toward avoiding vulnerability to it. Beyond this, practical measure are strongly urged, and usually by financial institutions. Passwords securing any sensitive information should be both maintained with the utmost secrecy and changed regularly, to forestall technologies which allow access to the retrieval of them. Actual access to computers and hand-held Internet devices must also be strictly within the control of the owner, as such devices often store personal data in a manner unknown to the owner but easily accessible to the skilled identity thief.   Then, and on a more tangible level, sensitive materials should be shredded, rather than merely discarded.

References

Hoffman, S. K., & McGinley, T. G.  (2010.)  Identity Theft: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Van der Hof, S., & Groothuis, M. M.  (2011.)  Innovating Government: Normative, Policy, and Technological Dimensions of Modern Government.  New York, NY: Springer Publishing.