Identity Theft Persuasive Speech

It's like a ghost. Every day, it taps in to the cyber world and everyday it has access to you. Worse yet it could be you. According to the FTC, over 20,000 consumers a week have had their identity stolen or believe they are about to become victims, in the US alone. What people don't seem to understand is that the internet world is just like any other community. So it's safe to assume the cyber world would act as any natural community. It has entrepreneurs, vast corporations, small businesses, and even accountants preparing taxes in their cyber offices, which also leaves room for cyber crime as well as cyber criminals. With so many new users signing on every day the cyber world has become like a tourist trap, a place where nameless and faceless con artists can easily work the crowds. Ghosts. Anybody can fall victim to a ghost.

Identity theft is known as a white collar crime. The first cases of white collar identity theft started in the early 1990's over the telephone. Thieves would call unsuspecting people with the prospect of something free, discounted, or something that was just too good to be true. Also thieves would pretend to be some kind of charity organization soliciting funds on behalf of the said organization. The thieves would get the victims name, address, and credit card information. The victims would not be aware until they get a bill that they had purchases they were unacquainted of or seen a copy of their credit report to find they had debit they didn't even know about.

At the same time as thieves are calling potential victims, others are going through potential victims trash looking for mail, pictures, financial statements, receipts, and anything else that would give them access to financial records or better able to assume their identity for monetary or personal gain. It is still going on even today.

No one is exempt from the possibility that they could be a victim. Identity theft has advanced so rapidly that government and law enforcement agencies have not been able to keep up with new legislature. Many states still do not view Identity theft as a crime. It is the victim who has to prove fraud exists. The judicial system that currently exists in this country states that any one accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. This is not the case with Identity theft. These people are considered guilty until such time as they can prove their innocence.

According to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the number of identity theft victims will increase by 500,000-700,000 each year. Identity theft increased by 79% from the year 2002 to 2003. The "Identity Rehab" website states that every 79 seconds an identity is stolen in this country. The Bureau of Justice conducted a National Crime Victimization Survey in 2004 with the following results:

* 3 in 10 households experiencing identity theft discovered they were victims by missing money or unknown account charges.

* Approximately 2/3 of households experiencing identity theft reported some type of monetary loss.

A more recent survey noted by "Identity Rehab" found that 85% of identity theft victims found out when they were denied credit. It was also reported that 28% of identity theft was due to a lost or stolen credit card. The FBI has estimated that the average person takes 12 months to realize that they have been victimized by identity theft and then another 175 hours on average to clear their name. According to the FTC, it costs victims an average of $1,500 just to restore their good name. The average victim sustains a loss of $1,200 and 1 in 5 people lose over $5,000. The average