Written by Modenie
Many U. S. consumers have been victims of identity theft. Identity theft is the use, transfer, and possession without lawful authority; and in 2020, FTC (Federal Trade Commission) received about 1.4 million complaints (Liu, 2020). Today, millions of adult Americans are being victims by someone who purposely misused their identities. When the perpetrator is a friend, family member, or caregiver who exploits the victim or financial abuse them, that is a form of elder abuse. However, when the victim is deceived into paying a lump sum of money by a stranger and making false promises, it is considered financial fraud or scams (DeLiema et al., 2021). Identity theft sees no race and DeLiema et al. (2021) stated that more dollar amounts have been stolen from older Black victims than older White victims.
Furthermore, Black victims are more vulnerable due to lack of support from cybersecurity platforms. The negative social and emotional outcomes endured from being victims of identity theft have caused depression, relationships strained with friends and family, stress, anger, and feelings of embarrassment (DeLiema et al., 2021). Nevertheless, poor mental and physical outcomes are often experienced from those who have been financially exploited (DeLiema et al., 2021). As a result, the victims might blame themselves for not being very protective of their identifying information.
Other than experiencing moderate to severe emotional distress, females are likely to report their feelings of distress as they have been targeted more than males (DeLiema et al., 2021). Older adults, including the elderly, have been subjects of identity theft. Most of the time, the elderly victims are being mistreated by having their personal information stolen from them which later results in financial exploitation (DeLiema et al., 2021). In addition, identity theft victims can be adolescents as well where their personal information has been stolen. Identity theft not only affects individuals but institutions. An estimated $5 billion loss to individual consumers has been recorded and FTC reported that approximately $47.6 billion loss to the banks and financial institutions have occurred (Liu, 2020). These estimations can be more as predators have more access to technology.
Bolojer (2020) explained that a couple paid for an RV listed on Craigslist, wired the payment through an escrow agent, then found out that the company or the escrow agent were excited. These incidents show that there are consequences to victims in our society by failing to address the problem of identity theft. First, with the new emerging of technologies, new situations may arise which can impact the dishonesty and mistreatment of all technology devices (Cebrian-Robles et al., 2023). Second, failing to address this problem is a risk to advanced technologies that are not keeping up with information that are being stolen even after protection has been applied (Piquero et al., 2021). Last, the people who are involved in identity theft, majority of them are from the international nations and not the United States (Piquero et al., 2021). Technology is widely spread throughout the world, and perpetrators can try to have access to personal information via social media, phones, emails, and financial institutions. Therefore, having better cybersecurity will affect all of us because as one crime is created, we all must deal with the aftermath globally.
There are benefits to technology as it can give victims the help that they need by having systems that can identify the crime (Piquero et al., 2021). Sometimes, when a crime happens, it may be difficult to find out who committed it. However, with the help of technology such as biometric identifiers, artificial intelligence, and two-factor authentication are ways to help individuals and organizations identify possible thefts (Piquero et al., 2021). Without technology, law enforcement and businesses are not fully equipped to deal with identify theft and fraud in general. Technology being in place is important to help the victims of identity theft.
Consequently, the drawback to using technology for identity theft is that the thief who has access to someone’s information may sell it to other criminals for use in direct marketing campaign which is illegal (Piquero et al., 2021). When they steal that information, it is illegal for the offenders while it was being made legal for the businesses to obtain it from consumers (Piquero et al., 2021). This can become a devastating experience for the victims as they will lack confidence in businesses or institutions with their personal information. In addition, some victims are scared to report the incident because they have doubts that they will ever recover their personal identifiable information (Piquero et al., 2021).
Another benefit of technology is being able to investigate disputes related to identity theft and determine if any information is accurate (Bolejer, 2020). When information is disputed, the consumer may have the option to delete the item. After deletion, it means that the victim can update his or her credit report and start over. The time and cost it takes to recover after an identity theft can cause consumers to delay the dispute process. However, a dispute can help protect a victim as well as future actions to take for an imposter. After a dispute has been conducted, the victim may choose to add identity theft protection to regular check for any future incidents (Piquero et al., 2021). In addition, companies are keeping a rule for record retention up to 5 or 10 years and individuals can do the same thing so they can dispute any information while going through such a painful experience (Piquero et al., 2021).
Another drawback to technology is that the victims have limited recourse to fix the harm caused with fraudulent accounts (Bologer, 2020). For example, some victims may not have access to technology and may not know the process to dispute an item. Sometimes, it requires technology to begin a dispute process for immediate results because the line may be too busy if he or she calls the three credit report bureaus. Moreover, the victims may not know how to protect their personal information such as changing passwords and monitoring their financial transactions online (DeLiema et al., 2021). The lack of information through technology is a drawback to victims of identity theft.
After identity theft has been found to be credible, a victim can get the following to start a dispute: A police report with a copy of an FTC Identity Theft Affidavit available at https://www.identitytheft.gov/, driver’s license and social security cards, and signature samples (Loker, 2018). In addition, a credit freeze can prevent identity theft by contacting all three credit bureaus by visiting their websites or sending a request through the mail (Gerstner & Patch, 2023). It’s important to freeze one’s credit if he or she is not using credit on an ongoing basis. Knowing what’s your credit is by accessing all three credit bureaus and getting a free Annual report will help someone not to become a victim (Loker, 2018). Gerstner and Patch (2023) stated consumers must be alert of a suspicion of any new charges and contact the financial institution to send a new card with a new number. Moreover, scammers use phishing and smishing messages, by asking someone to update an account or attempting to collect personal information and money (Gerstner & Patch, 2023). These messages are being attempted everyday if consumers are not aware of them.
There are different ways to bring changes with the issue of identity theft. For social change to be established in our society, policy makers must highlight the need for improvement. The resilient of the consumers addressing this issue is valuable to get responses from the government. According to Piquero et al., (2021), focus group members discussed that companies must update their technologies that includes theft prevention software and to train law enforcement officers who will be better equipped to address the issue. For example, law enforcement can receive yearly training on how to deal with consumers reporting this crime. In addition, agencies need to create new policies and procedures that will protect individuals and firms (Piquero et al., 2021). These policies and procedures will entrust their services with individuals to decrease any risks.
Identity crime is a horrific event that individuals can experience. Unfortunately, the risk of identity theft victimization can be lowered but not eliminated in our society. More education about online security and privacy is needed as cyber threats are happening daily. The negative outcome of being victims of identity theft not only affects individuals but society. Adults who have been victims can help educate our youth through shared experiences and by advocating to change certain laws. Ultimately, the ultimate mitigation plan is to be extremely careful by safeguarding our personal information online and offline. Being victims of identity theft does not have to affect millions of innocent people with proper prevention. Education through cybersecurity awareness will help today and future generations to come.
References
Bolojer, R. (2020). Door shut and ears plugged: How consumer reporting casts identity theft victims out of financial society and how the law can be harmonized to bring them back in. Brooklyn Journal of Corporate. Financial & Commercial Law, 15, 156-18.
Cebrian-Robles, V., Ruiz-Rey, F. J., Raposo-Rivus, M., & Cebrian-de-la-serna, M. (2023). Impact of digital contexts in the training of university education students. Education Sciences, 13, 923-933.
DeLiema, M., Bumes, D., & Langton, L. (2021). The financial and psychological impact of identity theft among older adults. Innovation in Aging, 5(4), igabo43. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igabo43
Gerstner, L., & Patch, E. (2023). Fight back against fraud and identity theft. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 52-63.
Loker, M. (2018). Conveniently exposed: How the convenience of the internet is exposing you to identity theft. Journal of Internet Law, 22(2), 3-7.
Liu, S. A. (2020). What’s the use? Interpreting the term “uses” in the aggravated identity theft provision. The University of Chicago Law Review, 89(5), 1289-1330.
Piquero, N. L., Piquero, A. R., Gies, S., Green, B., Bobnis, A. & Velasquez, E. (2021). Prevention identity theft: Perspectives on technology solutions from industry insiders. Victims & Offenders, 16(3), 444-463. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564686.2020.1826023