Types Of Identity Theft

Identity theft covers a broad number of fraudulent crimes, and these can affect anyone at any age, and even young children are considered as having an ‘identity’, which could be misused by opportunistic thieves.

There are four main types of identity theft crimes, and these are mostly related to credit and financial services:
•    Credit Card Fraud – this is one of the most prevalent types of identity theft crimes, and accounted for 26% of the identity fraud cases recorded in 2008.  This includes the hijacking of existing credit cards with the intent to run up fraudulent charges, and also the setting up of new credit cards in another person’s name (leaving them with any of the associated debts/charges of this new account).

•    Bank Account Fraud – this includes check, bank account and debit card fraud and accounted for 17% of the identity fraud cases recorded in 2008.  This can include stealing checks to cash or pay for goods, stealing money from existing accounts and opening new accounts, loans and other bank credit products in another person’s name.

•    Utilities Fraud – water, gas and electric prices are increasing every year and this has led to a growing number of utilities fraud crimes, which accounted for 18% of all identity fraud cases recorded in 2008.  This includes applying for utilities using another persons name to avoid paying for these services, and in some cases parents have even been known to apply for utilities in the names of their children in order to disguise their own bad credit history.

•    Employment Fraud – many employers will require potential candidates to provide a valid SSN (or NI Number for UK) before they will recruit them for a job, to avoid employing illegal immigrants, but this has led to a rise in criminals stealing another person’s SSN number in an attempt to masque their own ineligible status.