Anyone who watched Sandra
Bullock squirm under the pressure of identity theft in the 1995 movie The Net, knows just how serious it can be
to have your identity stolen or "wiped out" by crooks. And while
movies may not always mimic real life, Brent Britton says that during his
tenure as an Internet lawyer he's seen a significant increase in the number of
identity theft and fraud cases taking place online.
"When the Web was new
back in 1991, everything on it was science papers," recalls Britton, of
counsel with law firm Ackerman Senterfitt in Tampa,
Fla. "As the Web became more consumer-oriented and mainstream, you've been
able to believe less and less of what you see on it."
For example, Britton says
criminals have honed their abilities to put up Web sites and create emails that
look and sound legitimate, but that in reality are traps for unsuspecting
consumers and businesses. Thanks to media attention to the issue, Britton says cybersurfers have begun looking at the address bar and realizing
that, for example, a site whose hyperlink says "PayPal.com" may
actually be leading them in a very different direction.
Identity theft isn't always
computer based, nor does it have to take place in the online world. In fact,
much of the identity theft taking place right now occurs in decidedly low-tech
environments, like mailboxes and garbage cans. Regardless of where it takes
place, the fact that it's a growing problem for both consumers and businesses
makes it a problem that shouldn't be ignored.
"Identify theft is a
huge issue right now," says Rebecca Morgan, Boston Asset Management
Faculty Chair of Elder Law at Stetson University in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"In terms of the speeches and presentations we've been doing, the one
that's requested most often is the one on identify theft."
Defined as the act of
deliberately assuming another person's identity, identity theft is a crime that
finds crooks rummaging through garbage cans to find old bank and credit card
statements, stealing personal information in computer databases, and thieving
information from organizations that store large quantities of personal
information.
Morgan says that while the
online space continues to be a hotbed for new schemes and crimes, much of what
takes place within the identity theft world is largely low-tech. Dumpster
diving, for example, which finds criminals going through bank statements,
credit card offers and other materials containing personal information, is a
popular method. Stealing both incoming and outgoing mail from residential
mailboxes is also popular, as is "lurking" behind ATM users to try to
steal PIN and account numbers.
On the Internet, identify
theft frequently takes place through email, with schemes like phishing taking hold when an unsuspecting consumer or
business owner gives out sensitive information to a party that
"looks" like a legitimate firm, such as a bank or government agency.
"They try to get you to give up personal information," says Morgan.
"And unfortunately, it's difficult to tell which are legitimate, and which
are not."
And it isn't going to get
any easier. "When you look at the cost of identity theft to the economy,
it's pretty staggering," says Morgan, who puts the responsibility on
consumers and businesses to protect themselves, despite the fact that a few
states have recently passed legislation surrounding the issue. "You really
have to become an informed, smart, alert consumer in order to protect yourself
and ensure that you don't fall prey to these dangerous scams."