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I recently wrote a paper on the problem of identity theft in the United States. The findings were quite surprising. I will try to bring the highlights from this paper in the next few posts. This is a summary: 

Contrary to many believes identity theft is not a modern crime. It existed for centuries and its expansion is not correlated to development of the modern technologies and the Internet. In spite of the long history, it was only recognized as a crime in 1998 and to this day, remains undefined. The lack of definition leads to a chain reaction that results in misunderstanding of the crime and improper strategies for prevention and combat with counter effects.

Very little longitudinal data exists to support the research of the problem of identity theft. Existing  statistics and data collection methods are very weak. There is no system for centralized data collection on actual cases at the national level. Only two sources of national statistics exist – one based on customer complaints and another based on customer surveys, both produced by or for the Federal Trade Commission. Common misconception are that the problem of identity theft is new, well defined and well documented. Its proportions are not as big as they appear.

I also introduced the notion of enablers – specific set of factors and environments that facilitate the crime and are unique for each country. The paper identifies thirteen enablers that make the United States most seriously affected by identity theft, and provides a brief overview of each of them. Identity theft affects not only individuals but businesses and government. Due to the lack of proper definition in the first place, it is impossible to estimate the cost of the crime to the society. The paper examines potential costs, both tangible and intangible and shows how official reports can be misleading.

Official statistics are often misinterpreted and create a wrong impression on the magnitude of the crime. Lack of definition causes misclassification of other crimes as identity theft. The paper highlights the characteristics of real identity theft and contrasts those of other, commonly misclassified crimes – namely the credit card fraud. This crime makes up to 50% of identity theft cases in official statistics, and the project reveals that the proportions of identity theft in the Untied States are overestimated.