Identity Theft Predictions For 2007 Come True

At the end of 2006, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) made five predictions about identity theft for 2007. Sadly, the ITRC was correct on all five predictions:

• "There will be an increase in check fraud, check synthesizing, and check counterfeiting.
• Phishing will continue to grow as a problem.
• Child, family, and domestic identity theft victims will be acknowledged by law enforcement and companies.
• There will still be a lack of sensitivity and responsiveness toward victims by some law enforcement agencies, companies, and government agencies.
• We will see more communication between various law enforcement entities in multi-jurisdictional cases including the creation of regional taskforces."

The ITRC also made predictions for 2008:

• "... [identity] thieves are getting younger and younger. Recently two people in their early 20’s were arrested, in possession of sophisticated forgery equipment. This is a strong indicator that identity theft is becoming a lucrative career path.
• Identity theft will continue to grow more international in scope. Scams will become more sophisticated and will be harder to detect, as thieves become more industrious and skilled at designing viruses,..
• There will be an increase in the number of breaches due to poor information handling policies and practices.
• There will be a continuation of contradictory studies with less agreement on victim census, cause and effect, facts and overall cost of identity theft. This will lead to confusion, misguided legislation and governmental actions.
• On the positive side, ITRC believes that businesses will develop and implement better ways to authenticate the identity of applicants including Internet and telephone applications.
• There will be a higher recognition of identity theft as a crime by law enforcement. This will lead to more reports written to assist victims in taking advantage of state and federal victim recovery rights.
• There will more legislative action on the issue of identity theft, including limiting the use of Social Security Numbers.
• States and non-profits will be in a better position to provide more victim assistance at no charge."

All of this tells me that we consumers have to be more engaged with issues associated with identity theft. We have to be smarter about where we shop and how we pay for purchases. We have to be more diligent about monitoring our financial files and credit reports. We have to be responsible in using anti-virus software and creating strong passwords. And, we consumer have to hold accountable the companies and agencies that lose our personal data; and the politicians that fail to support identity theft legislation.