Thesis: I say identity theft is an act that can be carried out successfully by only a smart criminal. Audience: People who are careless about how they handle their personal information. Those that do not really know how identity theft is being carried out Outlines: • Introduction: Existence and scope of identity theft • Paragraph 2: Ways identity theft is carried out. An example from an article called Dragnet • Paragraph 3: Continuation of the ways identity thefts is carried out with examples. • Paragraph 4: Continuation of the ways identity thefts is carried out with examples.
Conclusion: Usage of stolen identities and the impact on victims. Changes: In this essay, I changed my thesis, and my audience. I also changed the topic of my essay, I gave more examples, I also gave a detailed explanation of my examples, I organized the essay properly and corrected every grammatical error. Bamijoko Anuoluwapo Professor Stefanon English 101A 18 Apr. 2016 The act of identity theft Identity theft has been in existence for a very long time, and over the years, it keeps increasing. Unfortunately, each year, a lot of people fall victims of this act.
I will say that most people that fall victim of this act do not take basic precautions with their personal information and documents or are still ignorant of what is called identity theft. This crime is done all over the world and each day people join this act, and these additions to the crime numbers helps bring up new ways in which they can carry out this act. Although, some say they do not really understand how this act is done and how they fall victim, I say identity theft is an act that can be carried out successfully by only a smart criminal.
This act is done in so many different kinds of ways. There are so many ways identity theft is being carried out, but I will describe a few ways in this essay. Identity theft can be carried out through credit card, through the internet, through the mail, completing a change of address form, taking information individuals share on social media. There are different ways and procedure they use in carrying out this theft to success. I once read an article called “The Dragnet” by Russell Brandom. This article talked a man named Rigmaiden, but was not known by Rigmaiden but other people names.
Russell said “Just a few minutes after the pickup, Stout was gone. It was as close as the cops would get for months. From there, every lead seemed to dry up. Stout’s driver’s license was fake: the address didn’t exist and the ID number belonged to a woman in Bakersfield. ” Stout Russell was referring to here was Rigmaiden. Rigmaiden who just finished a fraudulent transaction at a train station in San Francisco, but was not caught because every trace led back to Stout and the I. D. that belong to a woman and not Rigmaiden.
Using peoples I. D. o make fraudulent transactions was what he did for a living because this helps him get away from being caught because all the transactions made are being traced back to the I. D. owners. Russell said, “The informant led the task force to a nest of bank accounts where he has been instructed to deposit money, but they were all in false names – Sam Blat, Benjamin Cohan, Aaron Johnson. ” One might wonder how stealing a credit card and using it for an identity theft is even possible, but these thieves are very smart and they always have a plan in which they will use to carry out their mission.
First of all, like I said just with little savage and more skill, the thieves only need a minute, sometimes a second, to get your credit card data. When the stealing of credit card started, they were only able to get information by digging out the imprint of credit cards from the carbon copies they dug out of the trash. But these days, there are so many ways they can steal one’s credit card. Some may steal people’s wallet, purses that contain this item and from there get hold of the credit card. Others might decide to hack, phish or skim their way into the systems of big companies which have people’s credit card record and information.
Some credit cards are also being stolen through an inner source in a restaurant where people come to eat often. “The waitress whisks away your credit card and swipes it through the restaurant’s register. Then, she pulls out a small device, about the size of an ice cube, and swipes the card through that, says Lt. David Schultz of the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office in Texas. While you’re scraping the last of the chocolate frosting from your plate, your credit card information has been stored in the device, known as a skimmer. The waitress returns your card and performs the same magic trick on dozens of credit cards in a week. This is another crazy way in which credit card information is stolen. Stealing information this way can happen anywhere we use our credit card to pay for something. Credit card identity is very common because credit cards are being used almost everywhere around the world. Although a stolen wallet or purse is a major way of identity theft, a compromised computer is also a fast and becoming the most likely way that one’s identity can be stolen.
Identity theft through the internet is another common way thieves get personal information from individuals. To accomplish this act, ost thieves find a way in which they can compromise a computer, they can do this by creating spyware in some sites we want to download files or software, when we try to open email attachments or click on pop-ups when we visit devious websites. This spyware is able to quietly transmit one’s personal information, which can include: Credit card numbers, Bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, usernames and passwords, address books, including email addresses while connected to the internet. Another way criminals can get one’s identity online is through information shared on social media.
The rate at which different type of social media applications is being created today keeps increasing and there are now applications that individuals can easily share whatever they are doing live. The most success of identity theft through social media is caused by individuals who share all their information’s and also vital documents online either with pictures or updated status. They are sharing this for fun, but when an identity theft, criminal sees this they collect every necessary information they need through this.
Also, they send false information through emails asking them to send personal information to update their account information or something that relates to their personal information. Identity criminal use stolen identities or information for different types of fraudulent activities, activities that always lead the victim into debt or even terrible credit card situation, bad reputations of name or location. For example, when someone’s Social Security number is stolen that person would be denied government benefits because another account that Social Security number is already receiving benefits.
They can also use the stolen identities or information to open new credit card accounts in one’s name, change the billing address on one’s credit card so you no longer receive the bills as they continue running up charges on the account, commit phone or utilities fraud, opening up new accounts in one’s name, open a bank account in one’s name and write bad checks, clone one’s ATM or debit cards and make electronic withdrawals in one’s name, take out major loans in one’s name and not pay off the debt.
They could also use these identities to begin a new life, getting a driver’s license or official I. D. using one’s name and one’s picture. Using ones information for this kind of act that lead to one having a very bad credit card history, it leaves one with a great deal of mess that takes long to clean up. So I say, until when individuals start taking basic procedures with the safety of their identities and personal information, then identity theft will be minimized and will not be successful anymore.