Summary
Identity theft is a serious issue that affects millions of people worldwide. While it is not a new concept, the progressively increasing use of the Internet and global digitalization have created additional risks. Identity theft is described as the malicious use of personal information by another individual (Irshad & Soomro, 2018). According to the Internet Crime Report of 2016, in the US alone, identity theft is responsible for the loss of over 50 million US dollars (Soomro & Hussain, 2019). In 2017, 17 636 individuals self-reported being victims of identity theft (Soomro & Hussain, 2019). While identity fraud affects many people financially, the mental and emotional sides of such crimes are often overlooked.
Today, social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok are largely focused on adolescents are their primary users. Although many websites and Apps require a minimum age to register, there is often no age verification that ensures the users are, in fact, above the age cut-off. Therefore, there are many potentially easily influenced and naïve young users that are prone to identity theft and other cyber-crimes.
Problem Statement
While identity theft is a vast issue that consists of many intricacies and variations, this research project focuses on social media. Furthermore, as mentioned in the introduction, adolescents are likely to use social media often with no parental supervision and are particularly prone to cyber crimes due to naivety. Therefore, the problem that is to be researched in this project is the possible protective tactics against identity theft targeted at children and adolescents. Since younger individuals are more likely to be affected by such crimes mentally in the long term as well as short term, it is vital to implement preventive and corrective tactics.
Relevance and Significance
As technology advances worldwide, children and adolescents today have increasingly more access to not only phones and tablets but social media and the Internet. Although there are many advantages to being more adept at using such technology in the digitalized world, the many downsides include cybercrime, such as identity theft. On the Internet, identity theft can take a number of forms, including catfishing, financial gain, and privacy invasion.
Research Plan
Data to be Used
Since identity theft, alongside other cyber crimes, is a serious and prominent issue, there are many statistics available online that can be used for consideration of the scope of the problem. Furthermore, there are various preventive tactics that have been discussed in previous papers, such as in Soomro and Hussain’s paper (2019). Other sources to be used include Ahmad and colleagues’ advisory paper for parental awareness on cyber threats (2019) and the advice given by the Federal Trade Commission (“Report identity theft and get a recovery plan,” n.d.). Furthermore, research on the detection of identity fraud using behavioral semantics by Wang, Yang, and Luo (2017) will be used. The variety of sources included in the research, although focused on the US and children and adolescents, allows for a broader scope of the problem consideration.
Analyzing the Data
Analysis of the data will be conducted by comparing the different methods offered by previous studies and their effectiveness. Furthermore, various new solutions will be discussed in the further parts of the paper, which will integrate parts from previous research. Although it is difficult to create a rubric that would assess the effectiveness of the programs and tactics, the main objective metric considers the satisfaction level of those affected directly.
How Data and Analytics Answer the Question
The data, both statistical and tactical, will be used to determine the best plans of action in the case of identity theft and for its prevention. Since it might not always be possible to prevent the scam from occurring, it is important to consider not only avoidance tactics but how to deal with the consequences of identity theft. This research paper aims to be educational for parents and other individuals so as to minimize the risks for children and adolescents on the Internet.
Summary of Ethical Issues
Firstly, since the research is concerned with mostly underage children and adolescents and their personal information, it might be ethically problematic to gather sufficient information. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the tactics can be tested, hence the research must rely primarily on secondary sources. Lastly, it is unclear how the effectiveness of the tactics can be measured and whether it can be measured objectively and fairly.
Limitations of Research
As mentioned above, there is little to no age verification on social media and other Internet websites today. Therefore, it can be difficult to track every single user and their demographic, meaning that the study of frequency, type, and effects of identity theft in children and adolescents might be compromised. Furthermore, many incidents of identity theft, especially those that do not end up in a financial loss, might not be reported for various reasons. Lastly, since technological advances are happening at a rapid speed, it is difficult to compare and study the long-term effects and consequences of virtual identity theft. Some of the data available might be outdated already, therefore, there is a possible lack of sufficient information.
References
Ahmad, N., Arifin, A., Asma’Mokhtar, U., Hood, Z., Tiun, S., & Jambari, D. I. (2019). Parental awareness on cyber threats using social media. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 35(2).
Irshad, S. & Soomro, T. R. (2018). Identity theft and social media. International journal of computer science and network security, 18(1), 43-55.
Report identity theft and get a recovery plan. (n.d.). Federal Trade Commission. Web.
Soomro, T. R. & Hussain, M. (2019). Social Media-Related Cybercrimes and Techniques for Their Prevention. Applied Computer Systems, 24(1), 9-17.
Wang, C., Yang, B., & Luo, J. (2017). Identity theft detection in mobile social networks using behavioral semantics. IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, 1-3.