Identity theft 101: what is ID theft?

July 18, 11:28 PMIdentity Theft ExaminerJoe Campana

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Identity theft occurs when a person, an identity thief, uses the identity of another person for his or her own benefit. Benefits may be financial or non-financial.

Identity theft is often confused with credit card fraud and bank account fraud, although these types of fraud can meet the statutory definition of identity theft.

         Credit: U.S.Postal Inspection Service

In a pure sense, a person’s identity is their first and last name (or first initial and last name) combined with at least one personal identifier such as a social security number. Although the date of birth is not a personal identifier, it is useful to thieves because it add authenticity to a stolen identity.

State and federal identity theft laws recognize many other personal identifiers: financial account numbers such as credit card, debit card and bank account including personal identification numbers (PINs) access codes and passwords, driver’s license number or state identification number, DNA profile, and biometric data such as fingerprints and retinal scans. This is why credit card and bank account fraud can be an identity theft.

Consequently, the most commonly recognized type of identity theft is “existing account” fraud where the thief uses an existing credit, debit or bank account of a victim.

New account fraud occurs when the thief opens new accounts by using the name and social security number of the victim.

Stolen identities are used commonly to obtain employment, to obtain medical treatment, to obtain real or fake government identification such as a social security card, driver’s license or passport, to obtain insurance, utilities and housing, to commit crimes from murder to fraud and to elude law enforcement by posing as the victim of identity theft.

These later types of Identity theft can have significant and long lasting financial, emotional and life style consequences to victims. Any legal person become a victim—infants, children, teenagers, adults, the deceased, businesses and even pedigree animals.