Identity theft is the practice of obtaining somebody's personal information without his knowledge and then using that data maliciously. The information obtained can be used to commit various crimes including credit card fraud, opening a new bank account in the victims name or even sheer embarrassment. The issue of identify fraud is so serious that on July 15, 2004, the US president signed a new law called the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act. This law makes ID theft a crime and culprits would serve two years in jail.
ID theft has many consequences. It can land a victim in jail as the perpetrator can use his details to commit various crimes. In some cases the victim’s credit card records had been irreparably damaged. In 2003, there were 214,905 cases of ID theft cases according to the Federal Trade Commission. This figure represents $53 billion in losses.
There are many ways through which the ID thieves obtain information. The easiest is a method called phishing. Phishing involves the sending of phony email using your details the perpetrator has obtained somewhere. This could be an email purportedly originating from PayPal or some other business with which you are affiliated. You would be asked to confirm your details or do some other act which requires the disclosure of your credentials. As you visit these compromised sites, the thieves obtain your personal details and then use that to commit various crimes. Another common method is through the sign up of free offers. Usually you are given a form to fill. As you enter your details, the thieves record your entries and use that to commit crimes. Still more, many visit social networking sites like MYSPACE where they obtain information from the profile of members