Identity theft is a rare but recurring phenomenon in the world of cybercrime – in today’s technology-driven world, much of our bank records and money is computerized, and the advent of credit cards has allowed people to incur debt without needing to pay for it. All of these factors combine to create a scenario allowing for people to steal other people’s personal information. In the 2013 film Identity Thief, this concept is played for comedy – the basic scenario involves accountant Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) having his life ruined due to the machinations of serial identity thief Diane (Melissa McCarthy), and his attempts to coerce her to come back home with him to clear his name. The film presents an exaggerated, overly sentimental view of identity theft, though it does shed some light on the tactics that many identity thieves use to get money from other peoples’ financial information.
The beginning of the film acts as an establishment of the normal person’s exposure to identity theft, with a twist – Sandy receives a phone call from a woman claiming to be from the credit card company, saying that his identity has been stolen. Little does Sandy know, however, that this is Diane on the other line, utilizing a common tactic identity thieves use to get information – masquerading as a credit card company in order to get information to “verify” their identity. Sandy, naively believing that this woman is from the credit card company, provides Diane with his name, date of birth, and Social Security Number. With these, Diane uses a credit card machine to fashion credit cards that are in his name and use his accounts. This is the way in which identity thieves normally steal someone’s identity – they are able to track down personal information about the target and masquerade as them. In addition to creating fake credit cards that also siphon off his normal accounts, Diane creates fake IDs with her picture to “verify” that she is Sandy Patterson. One of the jokes in the film is the fact that Sandy is easily mistaken for a woman’s name, which is part of the reason Diane targets him in the first place (it is more believable for her to get away with having these accounts if the name matches her gender).
In this very first scene, Sandy demonstrates one of the most frequent mistakes that identity theft victims make – giving out their personal information too freely. This is typically one of the ways identity thieves gather this information: masquerading as trusted sources in order to get you to reveal information to “verify” accounts; this is a phenomenon known as phishing (Hoar, 2001). Sandy is successfully phished in this instance, and Diane gets that financial data needed to use his accounts. Other ways in which identity thieves typically get this kind of information is through “shoulder surfing,” where thieves look over the shoulder of people entering data into an ATM, or eavesdropping on people giving their credit card information over the phone. Some thieves also go through people’s mail to retrieve bank statements, utility bills, medical records, debit card receipts and other paperwork to receive the necessary information.
Often, when identity thieves commit crimes, the charge is placed against the victim and not the perpetrator. This happens in Identity Thief; in the film, Sandy is taken in by policemen who have a warrant out for his arrest. However, the crimes he is charged with happened in Florida, while he is in Colorado; that the cops in the film are still incredibly suspicious of this is one of the film’s more credulity-stretching moments (as they have to force the narrative situation that would permit Sandy to confront his identity thief), as real policemen would likely acknowledge his alibi and leave. As it stands, however, Diane’s rampant use of Sandy’s credit cards leaves his accounts dried up and maxed out, and missing a court date for an assault charge leads the cops to arrest Sandy instead. This is one of the more major and damaging effects of identity theft, and can have a devastating impact on peoples’ criminal records if they are not expunged. The main detective on the case (Morris Chestnut) informs Sandy that these kinds of cases have about a 5-10% success rate in catching the thief, though that often takes six months to a year to accomplish. In the meantime, the victim’s credit rating and ability to sustain themselves is limited.
Identity theft can also hurt your credit rating – with people using your credit cards without your permission, you rack up debt you do not realize you have, until your credit rating is destroyed. Sandy’s boss threatens to fire him because of his poor finances making him an undesirable employee for an accounting job, as he sees that Diane’s spending has unknowingly set Sandy’s credit score down to a 240. The film does a decent job of showing the real consequences of identity theft, at least in its first act, as we see Sandy going about his life completely unaware of the sapping of his resources that Diane is doing halfway across the country. Sometimes, in real identity theft, people just take your personal information or pre-approved credit cards and apply for new ones in your name – they are then sent to third-party locations or drop boxes, where they use them, the victim’s credit suffering in the meantime (Hoar, 2001). In Identity Thief, however, Diane simply clones Sandy’s credit cards and uses his existing accounts.
One of the only preventative solutions to identity theft is to maintain a close eye on your finances; Sandy fails to do this, and as a result Diane is able to steal so much from him. Diane even points this out in one scene, putting the blame on him for having his identity stolen. Despite her portrayal as a terrible and flawed person, this is still good advice the film puts forth; it is vital that you keep an eye out for any strange transactions and report them immediately. Since Sandy had not looked at their finances quickly enough, Diane was able to max out all of his credit cards on things like drinks at a bar, jetskis, facials and hairstyling. To that end, the film serves as a cautionary tale for those who do not do enough to prevent identity theft, and are careless with their finances.
As a character study of an identity thief, the film presents a fairly unrealistic and overly sympathetic portrayal of the perpetrator. Diane is an overweight, unattractive woman, who experiences many jokes at the film’s expense; the film suggests that she needs all of this money in order to try to get people to like her. When she buys everyone drinks at the bar and makes a scene, one of the bartenders stops her and tells her, in short, that she is too ugly for them to really be her friends. Strangely enough, it is through the road trip with Sandy to turn herself in that she starts to repent a bit and understand the effects her behavior has on others. It takes a very big leap for her character to go from abrasive, obnoxious hostage to good friend (especially when that friend lands them in jail by the end of the film), but the film attempts it nonetheless. Unfortunately, this sends the message that identity thieves are just really good people at heart, and we should take pity on them instead of making them accountable for the criminal acts they perpetrate. Identity Thief ends with her serving her time, to be sure, but these consequences are lightened by Sandy and his family visiting every weekend, and having a close friendly relationship with her. This has the dangerous effect of romanticizing identity theft and softening the consequences of this criminal behavior.
Identity Thief shows a criminal with a heart of gold, while also demonstrating many of the tactics used to steal people’s identities. The victim is fooled into giving the thief their personal information through a phishing scam, the thief uses that info to create cloned credit cards and fake IDs to allow her to use Sandy’s accounts on her own. She also performs criminal acts, which make Sandy accountable under his name, damaging his credit rating, giving him a criminal record and jeopardizing his job. Though the film makes everything all right in the end, the consequences to real identity theft are typically not resolved as quickly and cleanly.
References
Gordon, S. (dir) (2013). Identity thief. Perf. Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy. Universal
Pictures.
Hoar, S. B. (2001). Identity theft: The crime of the new millennium. Or. L. Rev., 80, 1423.
