Identity Theft: Exaggerated Risk or Real Threat?
Identity Theft: Exaggerated Risk or Real Threat?
Introduction
“You have $92.13c left in your Chase bank account, contact us today with your details to switch from telephone banking to online banking” - I was in the country barely 72 hours and I was already subject to someone attempting to steal my Identity! I am referring to the past summer that I spent in America working under a student visa. After registering my mobile phone and opening my first American bank account, I started getting texts like the one above. This my was my first personal exposure to the problem of Identity theft, and after a quick Google search to enquire what I was dealing with, I found that it was a very common occurrence in America; More than 57 million American adults receive “phishing” attack emails & texts every year – from hackers or cyber thieves who pretend to be trusted service providers to steal consumer account information, and more than half of those who responded become victims of Identity Theft (Gartner Research, Phishing Attack Victims Likely Victims for Identity Theft). Lucky I didn’t respond to that text then, aren’t I? That was just my small run in with what has become a global problem over the last decade. And, the more I delved into the reading for this topic, the more I became aware of the vast amounts of literature available to me. I felt none of the other topics for this assignment had such in depth reading, which was mostly available online to me. There was online e-books, some of which I purchased; “Identity Theft Secrets: Exposing The Tricks of The Trade” – By Dale Penn, and “Double Trouble” – by Neal O’Farrell. Research websites were also helpful, like the Gartner Research website. I found some very interesting websites online, one of which I’ll give a mention; “Publications USA” – an American government run website, it had a section to provide American consumers with information on Identity Theft. Sites like these helped me understand the impact of
Introduction
“You have $92.13c left in your Chase bank account, contact us today with your details to switch from telephone banking to online banking” - I was in the country barely 72 hours and I was already subject to someone attempting to steal my Identity! I am referring to the past summer that I spent in America working under a student visa. After registering my mobile phone and opening my first American bank account, I started getting texts like the one above. This my was my first personal exposure to the problem of Identity theft, and after a quick Google search to enquire what I was dealing with, I found that it was a very common occurrence in America; More than 57 million American adults receive “phishing” attack emails & texts every year – from hackers or cyber thieves who pretend to be trusted service providers to steal consumer account information, and more than half of those who responded become victims of Identity Theft (Gartner Research, Phishing Attack Victims Likely Victims for Identity Theft). Lucky I didn’t respond to that text then, aren’t I? That was just my small run in with what has become a global problem over the last decade. And, the more I delved into the reading for this topic, the more I became aware of the vast amounts of literature available to me. I felt none of the other topics for this assignment had such in depth reading, which was mostly available online to me. There was online e-books, some of which I purchased; “Identity Theft Secrets: Exposing The Tricks of The Trade” – By Dale Penn, and “Double Trouble” – by Neal O’Farrell. Research websites were also helpful, like the Gartner Research website. I found some very interesting websites online, one of which I’ll give a mention; “Publications USA” – an American government run website, it had a section to provide American consumers with information on Identity Theft. Sites like these helped me understand the impact of