Identity Theft Research Paper

“Last year, there are more than 17 million identity theft incidents that occurred to the ages of 16 and up“ (Erika Harrell, 2015). Identity theft has become a major problem in our society; there are few ways to prevent identity theft from happening before it occurs. Corporations are trying every way possible to keep our identity and personal information secure. This will allow us to attack the injustice of identity theft, bringing criminals to trial and more safety for our personal things.
When people’s identity is stolen, the criminal can not only use their credit card, but also use your social security number. The social security number can be used to get the criminal a job, an apartment, or even take out a loan by doing it all in the victims …show more content…
In a few cases, criminals are filing tax returns with victims identity allowing them to steal their tax refunds. In a web published by the IRS, they stated, “On Sept. 29, 2014, in Phoenix, Arizona, Stephen Galender Allison…Allison filed a total of 29 fraudulent federal and state tax returns” (IRS, 2015). The IRS claims that it is possible to have your tax refunds stolen. A victim of identity theft can go on for months before they realize that they have become a victim of identity theft. The victims might receive pass due notices in the mail, or a phone call from a collection agency that isn’t theirs. By the time the victim catches all these signs, a lot of damage could have already been done. Some ways victims can discovered that their identifying information was misused varied by the type of identity theft. 45% of identity theft victims discovered the incident when a financial institution contacted them about suspicious activity or when they noticed fraudulent charges on an account. About two-thirds of identity theft victims reported a direct financial loss. The economic impact of identity theft is made up of direct and indirect financial loss. Direct …show more content…
As soon as someone is to suspect identity theft, they should file an initial fraud alert with a credit report agency. This will allow the agency to look at their credit report, see if they are at risk of identity theft and prevent the criminal from opening a new account in the their name. There are three free major agency when filing a fraud alert that stays on the users account for 90 days: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. Another protection plan is putting a credit freeze on file with all three-credit agencies. A credit freeze means that no creditors, like a bank or a business that stores credit cards can look at that persons report without your permission. This will make it harder for a criminal to open a new account in that person’s

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