To Catch An ID Thief (A Dateline Investigation)

I like watching Dateline reports regarding predators. While I was searching the web (using the youtube site) for episodes about predators, the video entitled "Chris Hansen - to catch an id thief 1" caught my eye. Somehow I had a feeling that the video would be interesting, even if I had no idea at first that the investigation was about a cyber crime.

Modern technology has made life easier for ordinary citizens. On the other hand, it has also made it easier for abusive people to commit crimes.

Let's take for example the crime of identity theft. In an investigation made by Dateline, it was emphasized how easy it is to have one's identity stolen over the internet. With the use of underground internet chatrooms, hackers sell information (including name, address, social security number, credit card number, etc). Identity thieves purchase these information in a matter of seconds after a hacker has posted the availability of such information.

Watching the first installment of the dateline investigation reminded me of what the professors stated during one lecture. It is very easy to get information from one's credit card especially if a credit card holder is fond of handing out his card to employees in establishments (such as waiters, cashiers, etc.). All the thief had to have is a credit card swiper and with just a swipe all information contained in the magnetic stripe are stolen.

A week ago, we had a guest speaker who talked about cyber crimes. One of the crimes discussed was fraud. It would be easy to commit fraud using the information purchased over the internet.

In fact going back to the Dateline investigation I'd watched, I was amazed at how the stolen credit cards were used to make purchases not only within one locality or country. Those cards were used to make purchases in almost all countries over the globe (the Philippines was even mentioned in the investigation).

I have never made an online purchase before and so I have only a general idea of how the clearing process goes with regard to purchases made with the use of credit cards. It really would be hard to find out about the fraud during the clearing process because most id thieves have the necessary information about the real credit card owners.

This phenomena just goes to show how powerful a tool the internet is. Internet users cannot rely merely on the laws enacted to protect rights of internet users because even though those laws exist it would still be hard to prosecute the thieves. Internet users, themselves, have to be vigilant in protecting information that may be used by identity thieves.