Identity Theft

More ID thefts occur offline than online - Mar. 22, 2005: "The problem of identity theft, online and off, shows no signs of abating. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 3.2 million citizens are victims of ID theft each year; and every 10 seconds another American is victimized, the study said."

AACRAO Transcript: "The Post catalogued the following security breaches, and the numbers of people affected, which have been announced in recent months:

LexisNexis - 32,000 consumers affected

ChoicePoint - 145,000 affected

Bank of America Corp. - 1.2 million federal workers (including U.S. Senators)

DSW (shoe retailer) - Has revealed that credit card numbers of people who shopped at 103 of its 175 stores had been obtained by hackers."

Identity theft easy; repairing its harm nearly impossible - Sunday, 03/06/05: "Before her experience with identity theft, Stelling said she thought the crime was only about stealing and using someone's credit card. But the fact that her name was printed on bogus checks and her identity used by more than one person changed that view.
Identity fraud can take different forms, authorities say. There's the perpetrator who looks over someone's shoulder in the grocery line to read a credit card number and enter it into a cell phone while pretending to be on a call. There's the waitress who, after taking someone's credit card to collect payments, uses a scanner the size of a pen to read their card number for forwarding to identity thieves.
Some thieves also are showing up at workplaces on pay day, offering an employee $500 for a $350 paycheck, then using that paycheck to make counterfeit checks charged to the company and cashed by acquaintances of the perpetrators at bank branches."

Identity Theft On the Rise - Globe Link - Community: "As many victims have found, repairing the damage caused by identity theft can be an expensive and lengthy process."