Recession to Cause a Rise in Scams, Thievery and Hacking

The Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC) and Robert Siciliano have joined forces to expand the pool of knowledge about identity theft issues.  As nationally recognized experts in this crime, they have come up with their Top 10 predictions for what the nation might expect in the area of identity theft in 2010 and beyond.

 The recession will lead to more scams.  “Whenever our nation has faced a difficult time, thieves have found a way to use the problem to their advantage,” explained Robert Siliciano.  “In my adult life, I’ve never seen more variations of old scams and the degree of sophistication in newer scams”

 Criminals will take advantage of increasing unemployment rates by tricking desperate people searching for job listings. These fake job listings and work-at-home scams will eventually end with the job seeker providing Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to criminals.  “If the job description is not one that you would see printed on a business card or you are asked to front money, it’s a scam,” continued Siciliano.

 Additionally, we will see the increase in the number of individuals - who have no criminal history - begin to explore the crime of identity theft for financial gain.  “For these thieves, it will be about quick money.

Once desperate people max out their credit limits and wreck their own credit histories; they will start to use Social Security Numbers that they can easily access,” said Jay Foley, ITRC Executive Director.  These new identity thieves will take advantage of low tech methods – stealing credit card numbers, dumpster diving, making phone calls, or phishing for credit card numbers. These techniques may also include placing ads in auctions and Craigslist for phantom products for sale to get either credit card numbers or cash. 

 Desperation will lead to more child identity theft and “all-in-the-family” cases, as well as the fraudulent use of numbers belonging to close friends, roommates and fellow workers.  It has long been documented that a significant percentage of identity theft cases are perpetrated by people close to the victim.  We predict that this number will increase during these tough economic times.

 “The ITRC has noted that nearly 10 percent of its case load, for the past six months, involved child identity theft issues,” stated Linda Foley, ITRC Founder.  “These cases often involve more varied components of identity theft than ever before,” she continued.  “It’s as if people have finally realized that a child’s SSN can be used for more than just opening a line of credit.” 

 Medical identity theft, while not a new crime, will reflect the distress of those who have become unemployed.  High COBRA premiums, growing individual medical insurance costs, or the inability to afford insurance or medical care, will cause a spike in this area of identity theft.  Even the Social Security Administration has noted an increase in uninsured people using the coverage of a friend, relative or even a stranger to get medical care.

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