How Identity Theft Occurs
Martin T. Biegelman · 2012
Cunning criminals have long known how easy it is to commit identity theft. Since this crime began its growth in the 1970s, it has seen a progression from simple to complex schemes. The President's Identity Theft Task Force in its April 2007 report defined identity theft as ‘‘the misuse of another individual's information to commit fraud.’’ It also describes the three stages in the life cycle which include the identity thief acquires a victim's personal information, attempts to use the stolen information, and successful in the crime using the proceeds while the victim is harmed. Identity thieves may offer free music, antivirus protection, or other applications. If an individual falls for this too-good-to-be-true offer and download or open unknown attachments, he/she may expose themself to surreptitious installation of spyware on the computer.