Publicized Crimes in America Today

¶ … publicized crimes in America today is identity theft. Due to increases in technology such as cell phones and computers; the increase in the sharing of information on the internet; and expanded reliance on social security numbers for identification purposes, unscrupulous individuals have managed to use these factors to obtain the personal information of others. In the United States it is estimated that an identity is stolen every 4 seconds and that this results in the loss of billion dollars annually to individual consumers and insurance companies

The problem with identity theft as opposed to more traditional types of thievery is that it is accomplished anonymously which means that the thieve could have been busy stealing from the victim for weeks even months before the crime is discovered. Additionally, once the theft has occurred the resulting damage can take months or years to rectify. As a crime, identity theft is difficult to detect. It can happen while the victim is performing the most mundane of activities such as buying groceries, purchasing gas, buying a dinner, or simply taking out the garbage. Identity thieves are constantly on the prowl for victims and will use any opportunity to obtain the information necessary to begin using their victim's identity.

The fact that there is no limit to what measures identity thieves will utilize was born out by a U.S. government study. In the study the General Accounting Office reported that the methods used by identity thieves ranged from basic street theft to sophisticated schemes involving the use of computerized databases (General Accounting Office, 2009).

As indicated earlier, the victims of identity theft are often not aware that they have been so victimized until well after the theft has occurred. In most cases it is discovered when the victim applies for credit when purchasing a home or motor vehicle. When the credit is denied to the victim's surprise, a review of the report upon which the denial is based reveals accounts that were never applied for, overdue accounts, and unknown addresses (Berghel, 2000). Unfortunately, there is little that can be done for the victim at this stage as the time required for clearing up the situation can be quite expensive and prolonged.

The prosecuting of identity thieves has proven difficult. Although there has been a rapid increase in the number of statutes addressing the situation on both the state and federal level, the nature of the crime, the anonymous aspect of it, and the time parameters make apprehension and prosecution quite difficult (Pastrikos, 2004). Nevertheless, there has been an aggressive effort on both the state and federal levels to increase their efforts and successes.

The best approach to defeating identity theft is prevention. Potential victims should be cautious about sharing personal information with anyone not possessing a legitimate need for such information. In today's society where business transactions are done more frequently over the telephone and computer this is particularly important. Additionally, and most importantly, the use of one's social security number should be limited to those situations for which it was originally intended, that is, for employment and financial relationships.