Identity theft is a modern crime. It is a crime of assuming a financial identity and misusing the identity for making wrongful gain. With the advent of the electronic age, face to face financial transactions became a thing of the past and it became increasingly easy to steal identity which is now recognized only by a series of digits or names.
The alarming increase in identity theft has made both lawmakers and crime fighters take a serious view of the need to eliminate it with stringent identity security procedures and electronic security devices. The Federal trade Commission uses statistics from the Javelin strategy and research institute and the statistics of complaints recorded by the Better Business Bureau to understand and analyze reform needed to stem the growth if identity theft. In the year 2006 the Javelin and Better Business Bureau reports showed that there were 8.9 million victims of identity theft in the U.S.
The National Crime Prevention Council commissioned the Harris Interactive Survey to learn about the top crimes committed in the U.S. and identity theft topped the list of crimes committed in the US. Among identity theft methods, the Better Business Bureau statistics show that credit card crimes top the list. 25% of the identity thieves misuse credit cards. Credit card frauds are followed by telephone crimes, utility thefts and bank frauds in the list of identity frauds committed.
The good news is that there are many security measures brought by financial institutions and the Government to make financial transactions more secure. These security measures are also introduced for online transactions. The government has passed stringent laws imposing strict punishment of imprisonment for identity thieves. Identity theft is a new age crime and statistics show that though there are many laws and security measures to prevent its commission, the numbers are reducing marginally.
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