The problem of identity theft has become a popular crime in the United States and other countries in the last decade. More individuals are losing their personal information because of cyber criminals who source the innocent victim’s social security number, bank account numbers, names, and credit card numbers. This personal information is then used for different reasons. But, despite the number of reasons for engaging in identity theft, it is the victims who suffer the consequences as they lose their identity in a number of ways. This growing white collar crime is popular among criminals who seek to use the personal information from other individuals to make fraudulent purchases of goods and services. While identity theft does not constitute hard core criminal activities, the growth in the statistics of identity theft is a cause for concern and must find new ways to deal with this problem.
There are four general areas of computer ethics and these include "computer crime, responsibility for computer failure, and protection of computer property, records, and software; and privacy of the company, workers, and customers” (De George 338 as cited by Berzai, 2012, para. 5). Identity theft falls under these categories and is a common problem to many individuals in the society today. Identity theft is common to many individuals, but the unsuspecting individuals are the ones who face the greatest challenge as the theft is rarely discovered in the short term period. This late discovery leads individuals paying exorbitant fees to recover those which these criminals have spent. In some cases, the criminals are caught because a number of individuals are vigilant when it to comes to organizing their personal affairs. According to the Department of Justice in the United States, identity theft is the general term that refers to any type of crime where an individual “wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain,” (What are identity theft and identity fraud, 2015, para., 1). In many instances, identity theft is not limited to the monetary loss that the individual faces, but it also includes the need to restore the reputation of the individual in the society.
Nearly fifteen (15) million individuals in America face the challenge of having their identities stolen and used in fraudulent cases, (Identity theft victim statistics, 2015, para., 1). In addition, these cases result in financial losses that result in losses that amount to over fifty billion dollars in financial losses in the country, (Identity theft victim statistics, 2015, para., 1). Identity theft generally puts a strain on the victims and creates numerous challenges for organizations, the government, and businesses, (Identity protection: prevention, detection, and victim assistance, 2015, para., 2). There are a number of ways in which the individual’s identity may be stolen. The ways include phishing, skimming, old-fashioned stealing, change of the individuals address, and pre-texting. With dumpster diving, white collar criminals search the victim’s garbage and gather information in order to steal one’s identity. The information that is gathered comes from simple bills or any other information that has pertinent information or data that allows for criminals to use the data to carry out criminal activities in the name of the victims.
On the other hand, skimming allows the criminals to steal debit and credit card numbers through the use of advanced technological devices. In most cases, the criminals attach special devices that are connected to the Automated Teller Machines. Phishing is even more effective in getting information about the victims. The criminals act as representatives of financial institutions and send messages that encourage the victims to release personal data through e-mails or telephone calls from the criminals. The criminal merely changes the address of the victims and make purchases, using the victim’s information, and send it to their addresses instead of the address of the victims. The oldest means of gathering information on the victim comes by way of stealing or physically taking the victims wallets or purses and in turn gain open access to bank cards, tax information or newly accessed credit offers.
Despite the measures taken by individuals to protect their identity, there are still those white collars individuals who work assiduously to break through these preventative measures. These white collar criminals continue to improve on the ways in which they steal the personal data from these individual. With the improvements in technology, the level of sophistication of professional identity thieves improves, (Identity theft victims statistics, 2015, para., 2). With the expansion of the tactics used to steal the identity of the individuals, comes the increase in the number of victims of identity theft. Interestingly, identity thieves have graduated from merely stealing debit and credit card information and have added cable, home mortgages, and rental on houses, vehicles, utilities and gas thefts to the list. Clearly, the problem of identity theft is a growing cause for concern to every individual as no one is safe from these white collar criminals.
Recently, computer technology has opened the doors to ethical problems that allows for the unauthorized use of hardware and software to commit fraud o individuals and hacking and data theft on organizations and businesses, (Berzai, 2012, para., 5). These ethical issues create further problems for the individuals as they constitute the ethical concerns of whether the data that is stored in computers leads to the inevitable invasion of one’s privacy, (Berzai, 2012, para., 5). Organizations and individuals in general use computers to store personal data, but computers hackers have proven that this information can be accessed easily to steal the individual’s identity. The harsh reality is that identity thieves are intelligent individuals who manipulate the computer systems to commit criminal activities. But, what does this say for the society and the safety of innocent victims? These criminals violate the right to one’s privacy as it goes against the moral considerations of the society and the individuals.
Berzai argues that the improvements in computer technology allow for the increase in ethical dilemmas as identity thieves who use these computers have the power to access personal data from every sector in the society, (Berzai, 2012, para. 5). While technology makes work easier for many organizations, there is a need to rethink the ways in which businesses store this information in order to promote positive ethical considerations in the business world. Nevertheless, this growth in technological advancement changes rapidly and therefore it has created a serious challenge to individuals as they attempt to construct strict moral codes of conduct in the field of computer ethics, (Berzai, 2012, para., 5). Of course, it is easy to place the blame of identity theft on the use of computers, but one must keep in mind that people create computers and develop programs that will help to make the society more advanced. Therefore, in order to remove the threat of identity theft from the society, one must become educated on the use of the computer and ways to secure their personal data. Arguably, computer hackers and identity thieves will find ways to break through the barriers of passwords and codes that are used to secure personal data. But, with stricter policies on the amount of personal data that is stored and the intensity of creating more difficult passwords will help to lessen the number of cases of identity theft.
In conclusion, identity theft is a cause for concern for unsuspecting individuals who fall victims of those individuals who seek to gain personal and financial benefits at the expense of others. The problem continues to grow in the society because the improvements in computer technology forces individuals and businesses to store personal information on the computers. Most of the instances of identity thefts occur because of the gadgets that organizations now use to improve sales and store data. Criminals have devised many strategies to get this information and use this information for personal gains. Different law enforcement agencies have created numerous strategies to prevent identity theft, but victims also need to take measures to improve on the ways that they secure their personal information.
Works Cited
Berzai, L, (2012, June 25) Ethical problems in computing, News & Press Release, Retrieved
Identity theft victim statistics, (2015) Retrieved from ttp://www.identitytheft.info/victims.aspx
Identity protection: prevention, detection and victim assistance, (2015) IRS, Retrieved from
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Identity-Protection
The United States Department of Justice, What are identity theft and identity fraud? (2015),
Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/identity-theft/identity-theft-and-identity-fraud
