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| Identity theft 101: what is an identity thief?
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| Joe CampanaGo to Joe's Home Page |
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7/20/2009 - An identity thief is a person who steals, trades or uses the personally identifiable information (PII) or business identifiable information (BII) of victims to commit identity theft. BII such as a business name and employer identification number can also be misused to commit identity fraud similar to how PII is used.
A high percentage of identity thieves that have been apprehended (few ID thieves are prosecuted alone ever caught) are relatives and close friends of the victims. These thieves typically steal identifying information and use it themselves, often for financial fraud. Even parents have been prosecuted for using the identity of their children to commit fraud. There is the interesting case of the cheesehead that posed as her teenage daughter to attend high school and become a cheerleader.
Identity thieves can be people who steal identities and sell them to dealers and to identity theft rings that directly sell and resell the stolen information or that manufacture and sell fake government identification such as social security cards, driver’s licenses, state identification and passports. These distributors may sell a single victim's identity to many different people.
Methamphetamine users, traffickers and distributors have commonly been linked to identity theft crimes. Drug users may steal and sell identities to brokers or steal and use identities for financial fraud to fund their drug habit. Drug dealers may use victim identities to launder drug money, to purchase chemicals for the manufacture of drugs and to evade law enforcement, incarceration and deportation.
Identity theft has been linked to organized crime such as the Russian mob and the new mafia. Recently, data aggregator Lexis-Nexis reported a data breach that federal authorities linked to a New York crime family. Indictments allege the information obtained by an “insider” and “thief” was being used by the mafia to commit financial fraud, extortion and conspiracy to murder.
The large population of Illegal immigrants in the U.S. is a significant market for identity thieves engaged in the distribution and sale of identities. Illegal immigrants use stolen identities including forged social security cards to obtain employment, medical care, insurance, housing, utilities and government benefits.
While illegal immigrants that use stolen identities can be charged under state and federal identity theft laws and potentially several other law that prohibit forgery and fraud, A recent Supreme Court ruling could limit prosecutors from charging them with "aggravated identity theft" that requires a mandatory minimum prison term of two years.
Who else may use stolen identities? The 19 terrorists involved in 9/11 had access to hundreds of stolen identities that were used for financial fraud to fund to their activities and to allude law enforcement.
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