How identity theft occurs
Identity theft is a crime that involves acquiring financial or personal information of a person
working in a business or a business itself and use that information to steal resources of the business
or the finances of the business (Parent, 2018). The stolen information can be used to take the
company's data like customer information and tarnish the name of the business. Identity theft occurs
through many ways. They include trash bins, credit card information, access to the company's
database, and many others. Once the identity thief acquires the information, they can use it to
accomplish their agenda. Identity theft range from medical theft, financial theft, criminal theft, and
child identity theft. The person can impersonate another person to steal, avoid being identified, cone
another person to get free medical care, apply for a loan, procure goods and service, or even get
away with murder.
Case example.
On February 19th, 2020, at 7.07 pm, Kwch.com (2020) posted a case of a woman who fell
victim to identity theft, getting conned half of her business tax return she was to receive as a refund
of her business. The half amount was said to have been paid as a loan to the New Hampshire College
that she has never attended. The woman expected a total of $4,300. The other half went to pay a loan
she did not apply for. Someone applied for a student loan in her name. They then used her social
security number to get away with half her income. They took a total of $2,600 from her federal
income tax. New Hampshire College told her someone had applied for the loan in her name in 2007.
But according to the woman, she had never stepped in New Hampshire leave alone studying there.
Penalty for such crime
According to Parent (2018), identity theft is a federal crime especially in the United States,
and anyone found involved in identity theft, is a victim of a felony and in violation of the federal
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law. A person can be jailed for a maximum of 2 years in prison for usual offenses. But for terrorism-
related crimes, a person gets five years jail term (Parent, 2018). The punishment varies from one
state to another and also depending on the crime committed. Apart from jail terms, a person can be
fined and asked to compensate their victims. Compensation is not just the financial losses, but the
time and resources used to investigate the matter, the emotional damage the victim went through,
and the legal fee used to solve the crime.
Prevention tips from identity crime.
Identity theft comes as a shock to victims. The first thing to do to avoid identity theft is to
strengthen personal online passwords, machine passwords, and account passwords. Also, a person
needs to be up to date with their privacy settings. It is very critical to keep identification information
as private as possible (Kwch.com, 2020). No one should easily share their identification information,
especially on online platforms. Sensitive materials and documents should be shredded before they
are thrown away. Additionally, it is essential to check credit card reports continually. If someone
feels that an identity thief has stolen their credit cards, they can quickly freeze their account and
change their password. In the case of identity theft, a person can work with the police to create an
identity theft report. The attorneys can help with counseling identity theft victims and help them
walk through recovery steps. Companies and businesses should be ready to invest in data security
resources to keep their clients' information secure.
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Reference:
Former Wichita woman loses about half of the tax return to identity theft. Kwch.com. (2020).
Retrieved February 20th, 2020, from https://www.kwch.com/content/news/Former-Wichita-
woman-loses-about-half-of-tax-return-to-student-loan-identity-theft-568026301.html.
Parent, D. (2018). What are the Consequences of Identity Theft? | IdentityForce®. We Aren't Just
Protecting You From Identity Theft. We Protect Who You Are—Retrieved February 20th,
2020, from https://www.identityforce.com/blog/consequences-identity-theft.