Thesis Statements For Identity Theft

The clerk checks this information against a file at a consumer reporting agency, like Equifax, Trans Union, or Experian.This information is known as a "credit header," it is personal information at the top of a credit report.Almost all identity theft involves at least three persons: One must remember that there will always be financial fraud, and that no payment system is perfect.

The clerk checks this information against a file at a consumer reporting agency, like Equifax, Trans Union, or Experian.This information is known as a "credit header," it is personal information at the top of a credit report.Almost all identity theft involves at least three persons: One must remember that there will always be financial fraud, and that no payment system is perfect.

Turning away a legitimate customer in the interest of caution may result in lost sales.

And, sometimes victims pay debts that impostors charge on their accounts.

The credit granting system and electronic payment mechanisms are designed in such a way that committing fraud is easy.

A key thesis of EPIC's thinking on identity theft is that the credit industry causes the crime by adopting practices that favor convenience over security.

They use your personal information as a password-the same personal information you use to identify yourself. Credit granting practices are so lax that new accounts are regularly issued to pets and toddlers. In this instance, the owner of the dog had signed up for a free e-mail account in his pet's name and later received a pre-approved offer of credit for "Clifford J.

It is the equivalent of this exchange: Creditor: Who are you? Dawg." The owner found this humorous and responded to the pre-approved offer, listing nine zeros for the dog's Social Security number, the "Pupperoni Factory" as employer, and "Pugsy Malone" as the mother's maiden name. Dawg's owner contacted the issuing bank to cancel the card. If you are a victim of identity theft, this page may be useful to you, but you should first focus on the resources authored by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.Victims should make themselves familiar with Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Fact Sheet 17, and other resources on the organization's page.In a 2003 survey of more than 4,000 Americans, the Federal Trade Commission found that in the previous year, identity theft cost victims billion in out-of-pocket expenses, as well as 300 million hours of their time trying to fix damage caused by the crime.The FTC survey showed that in all, 27.3 million Americans were affected by identity theft in the previous five years.Steps could be taken to reduce the incidence of identity theft dramatically, such as requiring credit issuers to more carefully check applications for new accounts.It's not that credit card companies and banks want to cause harm, it's that tolerating some identity theft results in more profits for the companies.The credit header consists of the name, date of birth, Social Security number, current and previous address, phone number, employment information, and spouse's name.If the information from the application matches the credit header (or even if it doesn't-read below), the clerk typically will issue an account to the impostor in the victim's name.The core problem in identity theft is that a business cannot discern the difference between the impostor and the victim. Reliance on the Social Security number (SSN) causes identity theft.This problem has its roots in the credit granting process--the same information that is used to identify the credit applicant is used to "authenticate" her. If you are reading this and are thinking to yourself that this doesn't make any sense, you get it. As explained above, the SSN is used both to identify and to authenticate individuals. Unlike credit card numbers, the SSN contains no "checksum," a mathematical formula to verify integrity.