Definition of Identity Theft - Thesis Example

II. Identity thief happens in different ways; the person whose identity is being assumed often does not have the knowledge that his/her personal information is being stolen for a malicious reason (Consumer Protection para 1).  a. One way of getting this information by the thief involves retrieving of personal data from different IT equipment, and other storage media. This includes PCs, PDAs, Memory sticks among others (Douglas para 5).  b. Alternatively, the thief may use some forms of public records about the people, which is often published in some official registers like electoral rolls. 2. BODY Damages SufferedIII.

An identity thief is a criminal offense that people caught in the process can be prosecuted in the court of law.  a. In most cases, the person whose identity is stolen can end up being implicated in a criminal case while in actual case he may not have participated in the offense.  b. The person finds it hard to explain out his case because the details in the crime belong to him. c. Many people have ended up serving serious sentences in such a manner, while they never took part in actual crimes. IV. Types.

Identity theft takes many forms; the first form is where one steals your information in order to get into your financial accounts and steal your money.  b. The second one involves stealing information from social media in order to impersonate one for various online-related activities (The United States Department of Justice 2014). c. Others include getting information in order to access medical id in the name of another person illegally among others. V. Protection. In order to protect their identity, individuals are always advised to maintain high levels of computer security.  b. This includes keeping proper security for their web browsers through effective antivirus software and being careful about their use of information technology. c. People are advised to be careful about giving out their personal information especially on social media (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2014).  d. For tax-related documents, they should ensure that they use the shredder in destroying all the used documents; the remaining useful documents are to be kept safe, away from unauthorized persons. e. While working on the internet, people are encouraged to ensure that they use websites that are secure when making their online transactions.

  CONCLUSION They should understand the importance and need to secure their information in order to make it hard for identity thieves to get them and use them maliciously without their permission (Hanel 37).