IP: Report on identity theft from RISKS

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 09:27:21 -0500
> From: Mich Kabay <mkabay () compuserve com>
> Subject: Report on identity theft
>
> Caitlin Liu of the *Los Angeles Times* published a thorough report on
> identity theft on 16 Jan 2000 (front page).  In one case, 22-year-old San
> Diego college student Jessica Smith had her car stolen with her handbag
> inside.  Although the car and bag were recovered, someone stole her
> identity.  She nearly got fired from her new job when a background check
> showed that "she" had outstanding warrants for prostitution.  She was unable
> to obtain credit, phone service or even to rent an apartment.  With the help
> of a sympathetic police investigator, Smith was able to prove her innocence
> of the charges a reversal of the usual burden under criminal law, where
> usually the state has to prove guilt.  She obtained judicial documents
> explaining that her identity had been stolen; nevertheless, she has been
> hauled into police stations to be fingerprinted to prove that she is indeed
> the person authorized to carry those documents.
>
> Image Data LLC, an identity-fraud prevention service based in Nashua, NH,
> commissioned a study in September 1999 that suggested that one out of five
> Americans or a member of their family have been victimized by identity
> fraud.  [Readers should always be wary of statistics that report how many
> "members of your family" or "people you know" have particular
> characteristics: it is possible that a single person can be reported by
> multiple people.  The over-counting bias increases as a function of sample
> size and of social relationships among the sample population.]