The Cost Of Identity Theft

Did you know that a criminal get can 5-10 years for armed robbery? However, if a thief accumulates tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from Identity theft scams he will most likely get probation? Why is this? Well, for one thing, in this white-collar crime no one is threatened and there are no weapons used during the crime. Prisons are supposed to house violent criminals so the chances that the Identity Thief getting probation instead of going to prison are in his favor. With Only about 7% of all Identity Thieves being caught this has become a very lucrative crime which, according to the U.S Department of Justice, has officially surpassed drug trafficking as the Number one profit crime in America.

"The yearly losses from Identity Theft equals to buying 1000 one-million dollar every week for one year."

Recruiting people to help

Identity Theft is relatively easy to commit with minimal risk and can pay out big dividends. So knowing that, many a sophisticated "Identity theft Rings" have formed. They don't target just one or two people but zero in on hundreds or thousands at a time with no violence, minimal risk and big profits. Usually they, the thief, recruit people who work for companies that have access to the personnel files and they in turn sell that information to the thieves. All the person does is place the information on a CD or flash drive and they get paid.

Catch me if you can

Due to the very nature of the act, Identity Theft thieves are very difficult to catch. More often than not the theft involves several states and different jurisdictions which makes the whole investigation process difficult and cumbersome for law enforcement agencies. Who will be the lead agency during the investigation when there are 3 states involved? Just that in itself is a major roadblock for police or investigators.

Government Regulations

Because of the amount of personal information that is being stolen from businesses the Federal Government have passed numerous legislative mandates that puts the burden of security on the shoulders of the business owners. The fines for non-compliance of these laws range from $1000 to $250,000 dollars or more, that's per incident! And you probably have figured out law firms are looking for Class-Action suits that would involve more than one or two people.

This is the reason that the monetary loss from Identity Theft just in the U.S is over 53 Billion dollars a year.To put that loss in prospective you could buy 1000 one-million dollar homes every week for one year.Just remember that there are unseen costs from this crime that can't be measured or even seen.