NoSSN - Identity theft explodes in US

Identity theft explodes in US
July 22, 2003

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Identity theft explodes in US

More than seven million people in America have been the victim of

identity theft, a report warns.

Research by IT consultancy Gartner Inc indicates identity theft - the use

of someone else's personal details for financial gain - leapt 79% over the

12 months to June 2003. With 3.4% of the US population now having fallen

victim to the scam, Gartner warned that more than half the incidents

involved not organised gangs or career criminals, but friends, colleagues

and even relatives. "Identity theft is not necessarily a hi-tech crime,

and can just as easily damage the credit reputations of low-tech adults

who don't spend any time on the internet," said Avivah Litan, vice

president and research director for Gartner. Even so, the FBI and consumer

groups warned on Monday of a burgeoning scam involving fake e-mails

purporting to come from e-commerce websites such as Paypal, part of the

eBay online auction operation, and ISPs including EarthLink. Many credit

issuers don't recognize identity theft fraud for what it is... causing a

disincentive to fix the problem with the urgency it requires Avivah Litan

Gartner Inc The scam tries to fool people into visiting a faked website,

which asks for personal details - including credit card information -

under the pretence of confirming that records are accurate. Easy access

Identity theft is becoming a huge problem, both in the US and elsewhere.

Part of the problem, experts say, is that personal information is much

more readily available than ever before, making it easy to get - for

instance - credit cards and loans in someone else's name. To some extent

people can protect themselves, by being careful about what information

they throw away, since searching through rubbish is a long-established

technique for garnering the information needed for indentity theft. But

investigators also believe that institutions, particularly banks and

government organisations, need to be more careful. Credit card slips are

only now beginning to obscure most of the 16- digit number, for instance,

while the sheer volume of direct mail selling credit presents a huge risk,

they warn. "Many banks, credit card issuers, cell phone service providers

and other enterprises that extend financial credit to consumers don't

recognize most identity theft fraud for what it is," Mr Litan said,

estimating the average chance of being caught at one in 700. "Instead they

mistakenly write it off as credit losses, causing a serious disconnect

between the magnitude of identity theft that innocent consumers experience

and the industry's proper recognition of the crime. This causes a

disincentive to fix the problem with the urgency it requires." And in the

US, the fact that most organisations use individuals' nine- digit Social

Security Numbers (SSNs) as an identifier, despite the fact that SSNs are

often freely available on the internet and sold by many states to database

companies, is seen as a key vulnerability. Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3085277.stm

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-- George Bernard Shaw

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