Identity Theft

David Arcila
Professor Jim Manning
White Collar Crime
08/14/13

“But he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” – Shakespeare, Othello, act III. Sc. 3.

“Once in a time before identity theft was a federal crime, there was a particular case where a convicted felon stole more than $100,000 of credit card debt, motorcycles, federal home loans, houses, and handguns in the victim’s name.” (Knox, Jeffrey) “He also called his victim to taunt him and let him know that he could do this as long as he wanted to because identity theft was not a federal offense yet.” (Knox, Jeffrey) “Both the victim and his wife spent more than four years and more than $15,000 trying to repair their reputation and credit.” (Knox, Jeffrey) “As for the criminal, the offender served a small prison sentence for trying to buy the firearm but other than that made no repayments to the couple for the damage he caused.” (Knox, Jeffrey) “This was one of the many cases that made Congress decide to implement a new federal law in 1998 against identity theft.” (Knox, Jeffrey)

Identity theft is a type of crime where someone’s identity is stolen in order to pretend to be the victim’s identity. “Many times the offender obtains valuable resources such as credit card and debit card information or social security numbers in order to gain economic through deception or fraud.” (FTC, 2009) “An offender might steal personal information to make loans, establish utility services, or rent a house or an apartment under the victim’s name.” (FTC, 2009) “Usually victims do not realize that something is wrong with their important assets until after the damage is done.” (FTC, 2009) “The victim reviews their credit or debit statement, and detects that there are unknown