A Typology of Identity-Related Crime: Conceptual, Technical, and Legal Issues
Bert‐Jaap Koops, Ronald E. Leenes, Martin Meints, Nicole van der Meulen, David-Olivier Jaquet-Chiffelle · SSRN Electronic Journal · 2009
Identification is ever more important in the online world, and identity-related crime is a growing problem related to this. This new category of crime is not restricted to high-profile instances of identity theft or identity fraud; it is wide-ranging and complex, ranging from identity deletion to unlawful identity creation and identity theft. Commonly accepted definitions are lacking, thus blurring available statistics, and policies to combat this new crime are piecemeal at best. To assess the real nature and magnitude of identity-related crime, and to be able to discuss how it can be combated, identity-related crime should be understood in all its aspects. As a first key step, this article introduces a typology of identity-related crime, consisting of conceptual, technical and legal categories, that can be used as a comprehensive framework for future research, countermeasures and policies related to identity-related crime.