IDENTITY THEFT
With the public emergence and worldwide explosion of the internet, Identity theft has become one of the most rapidly increasing crimes. What was once a personal crime requiring criminals to have some form of contact with the victim, if nothing more than rummaging through the trash, can now be done from as close as next door or as far away as across the world. No one is exempt from the possibility that they could be a victim. Identity theft has advanced so rapidly that government and law enforcement agencies have not been able to keep up with new legislature. Many states still do not view Identity theft as a crime. It is the victim who has to prove fraud exists. The judicial system that currently exists in this country states that any one accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. This is not the case with Identity theft. These people are considered guilty until such time as they can prove their innocence. One of the problems encountered in the ongoing battle against Identity theft is that at this time no standard definition currently exists. Identity is defined by Merriam Webster on-line as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual identification; the condition of being
Notify the local Postal Inspector if you suspect an identity thief has filed a change of your address with the post office or has used the mail to commit credit or bank fraud. Contact CALPIRG or the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for information on how to network with other victims . Generally, victims of credit and banking fraud will be liable for no more than the first $50 of the loss. Victims themselves are burdened with resolving the problem. Alert them to the possibility that someone may attempt to open new service using your identification. In the meantime, they have difficulty writing checks, obtaining loans, renting apartments, and even getting hired. You may want to have your Social Security number changed if your number has become associated with bad checks and credit. If stolen, your checks can be altered and then cashed by the imposter. ie establish the identity of stolen goods. But the Social Security Administration will only change it if you fit their fraud victim criteria. The best explanation of Identity theft was by one web site which defines it as:Identity theft involves acquiring key pieces of someone's identifying information in order to impersonate them and commit various crimes in that person's name. Find out where fraudulent credit cards were sent.
Common topics in this essay:
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Benefits Statement,
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Identity Theft,
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Civil Code,
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jun 1998,
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