You are browsing your computer, when a notification pops up on the screen. You have received an e-mail. It appears to be from your local bank, which claims there is a problem with your bank account. They ask for access to your banking information to solve the problem, which you give them. However, you just unknowingly gave access to your bank account to an identity thief, who now has access to your bank account. They can use that money to open new accounts and spend your money. This puts you in a massive debt and effectively ruins your reputation. This situation has been presented to over nine million people worldwide, and could very easily happen to you. Identity theft has become a big issue recently, with increases in hacking …show more content…
Since there are many easy ways to gain access to someone’s personal identity, such as physical stealing of credit cards and social security numbers, as well as many, many digital methods, identity thieves are inspired to attempt to gain access to many people’s funds and information. Identity theft is usually perpetrated for financial gain. However, there can be any number of motives, such as personal revenge. Identity thieves have the potential to gain access to someone’s bank account and spend thousands upon thousands of the victim’s funds, leaving the victim in a deep financial hole and basically ruining their financial situation. Sadly, by the time the victim has realized that they have had their identity stolen, the thief has too often moved on to another victim. This is what makes identity theft so potent. The thief is able to steal thousands of dollars on a whim and is able to reach many people in a short amount of time if not caught. As long as there is a profit to be made from committing identity theft, many thieves will still attempt to commit the …show more content…
It is fast, efficient, and is a difficult crime to prevent, making it largely popular. Since it is such a simple crime to commit, thieves are inspired to attack people’s personal information. Though normally committed for financial benefit, identity theft can have a variety of motives. The government, corporations, and people need to band together to collectively prevent identity theft from occurring. This is to be achieved by knowledge of identity theft and having secure personal information. Sadly, as long as there is benefit to identity theft, it will most likely remain, but with the proposed solutions, we can at least make it much more difficult for identity theft to be committed. If this happens, the world will be a safer and more secure environment for people