QotW5: Identity Theft

“The worst of all deceptions is self-deceptions.” – Plato, Cratylus, 4th B.C.

“Mikey I am going to shower now you can use my computer I left it on.” Sarah said as she walked into the bathroom. Mike immediately logged onto his girlfriends msn and started snooping around her facebook account. While snooping around one of Sarah’s friend which just happened to be her ex-boyfriend messaged her online.

“Sarah? Are you there.” the words came flashing onto the screen.
Mike being the overprotective and suspicious boyfriend wanted to find out who this guy was. He decided to play along and replied.

“Yeah, I am here, just came out of the shower.”

I bet we all did that once in our lifetime. Our curiosity and suspicious nature tends to get the better of us. So is that considered identity theft? Although an innocent gesture on Mikey part he could be in the long run out to steal or impersonate other people and use their identities for personal gain.
Apparently not as identity theft is the misuse of the identity (such as the name, date of birth, current address or previous addresses) of another person without their knowledge or consent. Obtaining someone’s personal details is not a criminal offence, nor is creating fake utility bills or bank statements that can be used to prove you are that person. An offence is only committed when someone attempts to use the stolen identity to obtain goods or services.

As the world moves into the information age and into the cashless society, where one can pay their groceries with the click of the mouse and transfer funds to a bank located 10,000 miles away. One of the biggest problems we are facing today is online theft. People who misuse of abuse the system and impersonate someone else in order to obtain goods or services. A particularly costly form of identity deception is impersonation. If I can pass as you, I can wreck havoc on your reputation, either on-line or off (Donath, 1996).

E-bay is considered as an online economy where goods and services are being sold and traded online. On this website hackers are able to intercept monetary transactions and goods that are being sold by hacking into the user’s account assuming their identity and reputation, thus enabling them to purchase the goods using the assumed identity. I personally had my e-bay account hacked into and the person used my reputation as a quality and serious buyer to purchase stuff I had not ordered. The stuff was shipped to my address and payment was billed to my card. A person who is invested in a community through a membership system is one less likely to abuse the community (John, 1996)

Apart from online communities and economies like e-bay and amazon, the gamming world also is affected. Unlike online economies where identity assumed is important, the online gamming community assumes reputation as the key. Online games like Warcraft, Diablo, Counter-strike and Poker require not only passwords and user ids to enter but certain servers also require a certain level of reputation before you are able to play on it.

Let us take for example Poker.net, is an online gambling website where users from around the world are allowed to play poker as well as interact with each other. They are each given nicknames which they use at different play rooms. Reputation established from their nicknames or userid then enables the player to enter tournaments without even having met anyone.
How someone else could possibly assume this identity online is rather simple. They either gain access to your userid or passwords and simply just log into your account or a more complex process of hacking into your computer system to steal vital information. Many individual identity deceptions are acts of omission, rather than commission; they involve hiding one's identity (Donath, 1996)

Therefore i conclude that there is really no fullproff method to prevent or stop online identity thefts but there are ways to reduce the people affected. As people will always find the ways and means to beat the system. Be it for fun or monetary gain there always would be someone out there to who will create trouble.

References
Donath, J. (1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved February 20, 2007, from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

J. Adams and G Jayne. (1998) “Causes and implications of disinhibited behavior on the Internet,” Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal implications, Academic Press, Inc., pp. 43-60.

Oxford Analytica (2007) Hooked on Phishing. Retrieved February 20, 2007, from http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/04/29/cz_0429oxan_identitytheft.html

“Amilgate” (2007, Jan 15). Online Identity. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from Identity and Deception in the Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Online_identity&diff=108207999&oldid=106705378

Grohol, J. M. (1996) "Anonymity and Online Community: Identity Matters."