The wanton maneuver of stealing someone else’s identity, usually to gain profit financially and other credits in that person’s name, conceivably to his disadvantage or loss, is known as identity theft.
If held guilty, the person may have to bear adverse consequences relating to the extent of the crime. Identity theft occurs when a person’s identifying information, such as their name or number, credit card number, identity card, etc., is misused by someone without the former’s consent to commit treachery and other crimes.
The term, coined in 1964, holds a difference from ‘pseudonym,’ which is not necessarily unlawful. It is also different from the major data breaches on mass government bases, where personal information may be stolen or recovered without the victim’s knowledge or detection. Cyber-crimes, hacking, malicious operations in cyberspace have made these breaches smoother and prone to infecting users’ minds on a massive scale.
Software hacking programs have been made so effective and user-friendly that even inexperienced lads can steal credit card pieces of information, identity, and homeland security. Gaining such information is proposed identity theft and, in severe cases, an act of terrorism too.
Identity theft on a large scale may be categorized into 5 different fields, namely:
- Identity Cloning
- Criminal Identity Theft
- Financial Identity Theft
- Medical Identity Theft
- Child Identity Theft
These may be used to open the doors to the funding of crimes, terrorist attacks, anonymous phishing, and many more.
1. Identity Cloning
Impersonating any individual for illicit emigration or stating anonymity for personal reasons and concealing their own identity is an act of identity cloning. Posing on social networking sites as another individual for the fun of imitation does not fall as a crime unless it is labeled for unlawful usage, treachery, mounting debts, and others.
2. Criminal Identity Theft
Source: Shutterstock
Criminal frauds present ‘fake IDs’ on their arrests, identifying themselves as different individuals, obtaining their state-issued documents, and directing the charges on the victim. A person may fall victim to these charges, which can be checked and cleared only after a thorough background check.
3. Medical Identity Theft
Medical identity theft is the process of benefiting medical attention on another person’s name, drugs, operations, etc. leading to the victim’s financial degradation and the addition of inaccurate information to his medical records affecting his future insurance.
4. Child Identity Theft
Child identity theft has been growing and has been a major issue. It incorporates the minor being robbed of his identity without his consent and whose knowledge is undiscovered by him until years later. It is a fairly common theft as the impostor targets children. As very minimal information is associated with them, it is very easy for the criminal to construct lines of credit, get allotments for fake identity documents, licenses, and even for housing purposes.
5. Synthetic Identity Theft
By Vitalii Vodolazskyi/ Shutterstock
A variation in orthodox identity theft came from the birth of synthetic identity theft. This happens to be partial identity theft. The impostor alters the victim’s personal information or identity card by combining it with his, making it much more difficult to track. In fraud cases, it becomes impossible to retrieve information as the criminal databases do not hold information on the given identity proof, and it becomes an easy escape for the criminals.
6. Financial Identity Theft
These identity thefts lead to the victim’s financial loss and can be termed as financial identity theft. Being the most common theft, it includes credit gains, loans, services, and other economic benefits by the impostor.
Let’s Wake Up!
Identity theft has been customary and has been involved in our day-to-day practice. It is necessary to check on these hackers and prevent them from robbing us of our identity. Awareness from secondary schools and high schools should be set up. Sharing of sensitive information should be concentrated on the most trusted acquaintances. Personal accounts should be made as secure as possible by updating firewalls and passwords from time to time. Any irregularity must be reported to the concerned authority immediately without any delay.
Let’s work together to spread awareness about such matters.
Last Updated on by Steffy Michael
