Identity Theft

Identity Theft in America
Kelly Cawthorne
Axia College of University of Phoenix

    According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission's 2008 survey for identity theft states that over 8 million people were victims of identity theft last year in 2008. (LifeLock, 2009).That is an average of a stolen identity every three to four seconds at an annual cost of $50 billion dollars. (LifeLock ,2009). Many American's are sharing their identities with someone and do not even know it; and they need to know how this can happen.When someone is deceived and has his or her name stolen, they may become the victim of numerous crimes.
The extent of this problem is enormous. "Every year nearly nine million people pay their taxes using the wrong social security number" (Sullivan, 2006). Not all these people paying taxes using the wrong social security number are thieves, many are unintentional, but the number of victims of identity theft shows an apparent sign that most are targets of identity theft. The criminal who steals someone's social security number can use it to obtain credit in more ways than one.
Identity thieves are using a number of crimes to commit identity theft. They are buying, stealing, or creating important personal documents such as birth certificates and social security cards. Some employees can be involved in the crime also. He or she will sell personal information in order to gain something for themselves (Copes & Vieraitis, 2009). These authentic documents are usually asked for when applying for a job, getting a credit card, or applying for a line of credit.   These documents allow the identity thief to obtain a drivers license as well as any other personal accounts he or she would want to acquire. One way the victim finds out he or she has been robbed occurs when the criminal uses their credit and does not pay the bills. They are then faced with...