Chapter 3 - 3

03 Criminology

Now listen to a lecture related to the topic in step 1. Fill in the blanks of the note diagram below.

M: It seems like you can’t go a single day without hearing about some case of identity theft sweeping the nation.

It is often portrayed by the media as a huge problem. However, there are a lot of misperceptions about identity theft and when you look at it, well, it’s not as big of a problem as the media make it out to be.

The biggest concern for many people is that their information is out there in so many places.

You’d think it would frequently be at risk of being stolen.

However, the fact is… well, this information is actually very rarely ever stolen. There are literally millions of databases with consumer information on them, and a very, very small percentage of these databases actually makes it into the hands of identity thieves.

So… all that information that is supposedly being stolen constantly? Well, the amount of data that thieves steal is really insignificant.

Identity theft is not as common as people think it is. Next, we hear a lot about how our information can easily be misused by thieves.

In reality, the data that the thieves actually get is pretty negligible – usually, it’s just a small, it’s just a small, insignificant bit of information about a person.

For instance, you may have heard a few weeks back about a huge firm losing information about one million people.

Well, what they didn’t tell you is that the lost information just had a few minor details about the people − basically, their names, their dresses, and what kind of electronic products these people had bought in the last five years.

Now, if you’re an identity thief, what can you really do with that kind of information? Not much, right?

What I’m saying is that… well, it’s very uncommon that thieves get enough information to open a credit card account in someone else’s name.

Many companies that deal with money are also creating safeguards to prevent identity thieves from stealing someone else’s savings.

They’ve adjusted their policies in the past few years to prevent this kind of identity fraud.

For instance, say someone has your personal information and is trying to empty your savings account.

Most of these companies will first make the person come in and sign something to prove he is who he says he is.

So having money stolen is not likely at all, even if thieves have your information. In the end, identity theft is a pretty overblown concern.

The amount of data stolen is relatively small, most of the data that is stolen isn’t usable, and companies are adjusting policies to safeguard your identity.