Identity misuse
According some of the country’s top leading experts of cyber and financial crimes, Identity Theft is one of the fastest
growing crimes. In the United States (Europe does not have those data due to different laws) every year, around 15
million people report being victims of Identity Theft, which results in $50 billion worth of financial loss. That means over 7
percent of adults living in the country are victims of this malicious crime.
The VISIT program researches show that we have similar issues in our Europe- financial loss- due to fake emails,
damaged credit-worthiness, loss of legal claims, criminal records under victims names, substantial effort to limit the
damage as well as difficulties of the victims to proof the truth are the consequences.
Identity Theft Stimulus
Financial motivated
Financial Identity Theft occurs when a thief steals an individual’s personal identity and commits a crime that results in financial injury to the victim. Information can include name, bank account number, credit card numbers and other personal financial data.
Criminal Identity Theft
A specific crime in which the person who has access to your identifying information provides your name and identity to law enforcement officers.
Synthetic Identity Theft
Synthetic Identity Theft is fraud that involves the use of a fictitious identity. Identity thieves create new identities using a combination of real and fabricated information, or sometimes entirely fictitious information.
Medical Identity Theft
Medical Identity Theft occurs when someone steals personal information to obtain medical care, buy drugs, or submit fake billings to insurance in victims name. Damage can be life-threatening to the victim if wrong information ends up in his/her personal medical records.
Child Identity Theft
Increasing numbers of this crime recognized. Children make a tempting target for identity thieves because theft of a child’s identity may go undetected for years.
ID cloning
The scariest variation of all Identity Theft. Instead of stealing personal information for financial gain or committing crimes in your name, identity clones comprise your life by actually living and working as you. It is the act of an imposter literally assuming your life in a different location.
Identity Theft Case Studies
Financial motivated
A 42 year old women in Italy got a phone call from a bank she had never heard of and the bank accountant said “Is this Nicola…? This is the Bank of …, and we want to know why you haven’t paid…”
Medical Identity Theft
A 34 year old man stole an identity, having a major medical treatment for free. The guy bought someone else’s patient information on the black market. And this is how the case was discovered.
Identity cloning
Mary Miller and her roommate Christine had met through mutual friends and became good friends themselves and moved together in one apartment. Sure, Mary thought it was a bit strange …