Identity theft is defined as the acquisition of a person’s financial and personal information without his or her permission for a criminal’s benefits. This means that names, surnames, Social Security numbers, addresses, bank account or credit card numbers, and the account numbers of medical insurance may be stolen. They are traditionally used for buying things, stealing tax refunds, receiving health care, getting new credit cards, and opening gas, electricity, or phone accounts in a victim’s name. According to a 2019 Internet Security Threat Report prepared by Symantec, 1 in 10 people currently become victims of identity theft every year, while 21% of them have been victimized more than one time (Steinberg par. 1). At the same time, this issue will be more disturbing in the future as criminals are constantly discovering stealthier and more efficient ways of fraud.
Although the tendencies of identity theft cannot be clearly predicted, it goes without saying that they will be directly connected with technologies due to their constant development. From a personal perspective, new kinds of identity fraud will refer to information acquisition through mobile phones and tablets and high-quality copying of the company’s websites that deal with purchasing. In the present day, identity theft with the use of public USB charging stations and wi-fi, software, spyware, and specific applications may be already observed, and in the future, these methods will be developing. In addition, the education sector and medical industry will be more affected by cyberattacks as success, in this case, will result in the acquisition of considerable amounts of personal information.
Finally, in the future, it will be necessary to deal with the consequences of current identity thieves, especially child identity thieves, in combination with synthetic ones. In other words, fraudsters may open credit accounts in children’s names undetected, combining fake and real information. As the majority of children under sixteen years old do not have credit reports, criminals’ activity may remain unknown until victims apply for a job or a student loan.
Work Cited
Steinberg, Scott. “The Latest Ways Identity Thieves Are Targeting You — and What to Do if You Are a Victim.” CNBC, 2020, Web.