Cybercrime And Identity Theft Essay

In today’s world, we are all in some way connected to or involved with the Internet, it is really hard not to be. We all use different services that we feel either augment our daily lives or make them more pleasurable every day. We all take a sort of deceitful comfort in the basic inconspicuousness of the Internet. When we think about it, could it end up being the single biggest risk to our own safety? Most people don’t take the threat of cybercrimes as seriously because unfortunately they don’t realize just how life altering these threats are, until it’s too late. There are many types of cybercrime being committed daily that everybody needs to protect themselves from such as identity theft and fraud.

The Internet plays the biggest role in identity theft. On the Internet, a thief can hide from detection while stealing peoples’ identities from their homes, being able to steal peoples’ information one by one “then disappearing into another identity,” (Vacca 60). Internet fraud consists of two phases. The first being spoofing where a fake site is set up made to look like the real thing. Once that is completed the second phase, phishing, begins. This usually starts with an email that uses the

company’s real logo. It is intended to grab your attention by telling you your account has been suspended or some other “scare tactic” (Lynch 259). Phishing is a way identity thieves steal your information by pretending to be a company, organization, or entity that you know and trust. Is that really an email from your bank, or is it from an identity thief attempting to get your account number and PIN? Phishing generally begins with an electronic communication, including email and instant messaging, that claims to be from social websites, IT administrators, online payment processers, or other financial institutions or service organizations. Through the email or instant message, thieves direct you to a fake website that closely resembles and feels like the true, legitimate website. Their website or email then encourages you to enter personal and other detailed information, which they in turn can collect and use.

Vishing happens when you receive a call on your home phone or mobile device, from someone pretending to be from a trusted source. When thieves go vishing, they’ll call people using an automated system and leave messages saying there’s a problem with your bank account or ATM card. The call will then direct you to a phone number or website that will ask for personal account information to verify your identity, but again, they’re not verifying anything, they’re stealing your account information. Then they’re going to steal your money. If the transaction is done from a smartphone, it’s also possible for thieves to gain access to all the information stored on the phone, as well (Federal).

Like phishing, online shopping identity theft involves thieves who are experts at duplicating legitimate and trusted online stores and websites. Their goal is to get you to believe that you are on the real version of the online store so that you will shop as you normally would. Because you are making transactions and purchases on a fake, but completely operational website, thieves are able to capture all your entered personal information like your billing and shipping address and your credit card or bank account numbers when you check out. They are then able to use that information to commit fraud under your name (A Step Ahead).

Also similar to phishing, SMSishing is when a potential identity thief sends you a text message asking for personal or account information. The text appears to be from a trustworthy contact, so many people respond, and that’s when the theft begins. The problem is obvious, once you have either called the telephone number provided or gone to the listed fraudulent website, you are asked to provide personal information, such as your bank account, debit card, PIN, or other numbers to verify your identity. But the account isn’t becoming verified; it’s getting stolen. This is a real issue because you are unknowingly giving away your information (Federal).

An ATM overlay is a device that is placed over the keypad of an ATM.

It is often disguised to look identical to the original keypad. Overlays allow thieves to capture your PIN number as you enter it, while still allowing the original keypad to receive the PIN number as well. By itself, an ATM overlay is not a tremendous source of identity theft. However, when combined with a mechanism that obtains your card information – such as a skimmer, loop, camera, or other device located at the ATM – a skimmer now allows the identity thief to have access to your bank account, including both your PIN and your debit or credit card number. As a component of ATM theft, ATM Overlay theft contributes to the estimated $1 billion in annual losses banks experience from ATM skimming

(Bhattacharjee).

A data breach occurs when confidential information, such as your Social Security number, bank account or credit card numbers, personal health information or even wireless phone and utilities accounts are released. It isn’t always crazed hackers or Internet madmen wreaking havoc on the world either. The breach doesn’t even have to be intentional. Human error and carelessness also cause data breaches, but that doesn’t eliminate the risk. Unfortunately, once the information is out there, it’s probably out there for good and there’s not much you can do. The longer your information is out there undetected, the higher your risk. While companies try to keep up by continuously boosting security, there are a couple of ways you can strengthen your defense against data breaches. The first thing you should do is avoid providing your Social Security number unless it is absolutely necessary. Next, never use your name, or a child or pet’s name in your passwords and create passwords with upper and lower case letters, non-sequential numbers and symbols; change your passwords quarterly. Do not use the same password for multiple accounts; this will minimize the damage in case your information is compromised. While our digital age has brought us a world of connectivity and convenience, it has also cultivated an entirely new breed of criminals. And although today’s tactics may be different, the goal remains the same take what’s yours and make it theirs (Javelin).

Keystroke logging is what identity thieves use to secretly track the keys on your computer keyboard as they are struck. So, if you’re typing in passwords, PINs, or other personal information thieves can use that to steal your identity. Attacks are becoming more sophisticated and software programs that execute keystroke logging, and then transmit the data to identity thieves for storage, can be downloaded onto your computer through email attachments, links, or fraudulent websites without you knowing they’re there. So what is the purpose of all this malicious activity? More than ever before, they are concentrating on compromising end users for financial gain. Once attackers obtain financial information or other personal details, they frequently sell that data on the thriving underground economy (Anti Phishing).

Identity theft is increasing more and more every year. Some 12.6 million Americans were victimized by ID theft in 2012, the second-highest total since the Federal Trade Commission began counting victims in 2003 and roughly 1 million more than 2011, according to the survey by Javelin Strategy and Research. The record – 13.9 million victims – was set in 2009. A large portion of the increase was driven by "dramatic jumps" in more-serious forms of ID theft, such as new account fraud, where a criminal uses a victim’s personal information to open new credit cards or other kinds of loans. New account fraud jumped 50 percent in 2012, according to the report, with the total fraud loss-doubling year over year to just under $10 billion. Javelin’s data is based on telephone surveys of U.S. adults, with consumer’s self-reporting details of their ID theft to survey takers and results extrapolated from their answers. The precision of such data can be questioned, but Javelin has used the same techniques for eight years, making year-to-year observations informative. The FTC used the same technique in 2003 when it initially reported the size of the identity theft problem as required by Congress.

Before 1998, crimes that would now be considered identity theft were charged under "false personation" statutes, which go back to the late 19th century. False personation can be defined as "the crime of falsely assuming the identity of another to gain a benefit or avoid an expense (OVC). The Department of Justice prosecutes cases of identity theft and fraud under a variety of federal statutes. In the fall of 1998 Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act where identity theft was officially listed as a federal crime. It made identity theft a separate crime against the individual whose identity was stolen and credit destroyed. Previously, victims had been defined solely by financial loss and often the emphasis was on banks and other financial institutions, rather than on individuals. It established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the Federal Government’s one central point of contact for reporting instances of identity theft by creating the Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse. It increased criminal penalties for identity theft and fraud. Specifically, the crime now carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and substantial fines. It closed legal loopholes, which previously had made it a crime to produce or possess false identity documents, but not to steal another personal’s personal identifying information. This offense, in most circumstances, carries a maximum term of 15 years’ imprisonment, a fine, and criminal forfeiture of any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offense. Schemes to commit identity theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud. This Federal offense is a felony that carries substantial penalties, in some cases, as high as 30 years’ imprisonment, fines, and criminal forfeiture (Identity Theft). Over time, state legislative bodies also started to pass laws that helped victims, and these laws ended up being the basis for many national laws years later. As most crimes are prosecuted on the state level, these laws came to have a significant positive impact on victims (OVC).