The Fastest-Growing Crime in America

File photo of a hacker on his computer. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

The United States is awash in crime. Rather staggeringly, as I’ve shown elsewhere, 11 of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities are now in the United States. Of all the various crimes plaguing the country, identity theft is the fastest-growing form of criminal activity.

In 2021, according to a recent report by Javelin Strategy and Research, identity theft-related losses totaled $52 billion and directly affected at least 42 million U.S. citizens.

As we live an increasing amount of our lives online, successfully protecting oneself from identity theft is, for lack of a better word, difficult. Difficult, but not impossible.

Identity theft comes in many forms. Social Security numbers, bank account details, driver’s licenses, personal health information, email accounts, and passwords are all at risk of being exploited.

Why, exactly, is identity theft on the rise?

To answer this rather important question, I reached out to Jin R. Lee, a criminology expert at George Mason University. Lee, a man who has studied cybercrime in great detail, told me that cases of identity theft and fraud are increasing for numerous reasons, including “the ubiquity of e-commerce and other forms of digital communication, as well as the decentralization of personally identifiable information.”

The digital nature of most transactions, he noted, sees us “put our trust in companies to maintain the confidential nature of our sensitive data (for example, names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, driver’s license numbers, and credit/debit card information).” This trust, Lee suggested, is often misplaced. We should never underestimate the power of ignorance and negligence.

This data we blindly hand over is eminently valuable, as “it serves as the basis for obtaining credit cards, mortgages, loans, and government assistance,” Lee noted. Although many criminals use the information gathered to apply for the services themselves, others sell the details on the dark web, a murky digital underworld that requires special software to access.

What’s so disconcerting is the fact that cybercriminals needn’t be wizards to steal valuable information. As Lee explained, “offenders can obtain personally identifiable information using low-tech and high-tech methods.” The former involves techniques as simple as taking personal information out of mailboxes and garbage cans. However, he said, the sharp rise in cases of identity theft is more attributable to criminals using high-tech means “due to the ease with which individual offenders can compromise the personally identifiable information of thousands of victims at once.”

In 2023, data, very much the new oil, has never been more valuable. Hence the reason why the methods of extraction are becoming more sophisticated. At the same time, however, protection methods are still extremely primitive.

Instead of targeting individuals, hackers have, in recent times, shifted their focus to large-scale databases that store consumer information. This explains why so many major hospitals are now being targeted. They’re data goldmines. This fact isn’t lost on a number of Big Tech companies that have partnered (and continue to partner) with major health care providers. Can these Big Tech companies be trusted to keep your information safe? Absolutely not.

As Lee explained, “instead of targeting a specific person and their sensitive data,” hackers target major institutions that “have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of sensitive documents and files that can be easily monetized in some way.” Mass data breaches, Lee warned, have become increasingly common over the past decade.

In 2013, for example, the U.S. retail giant Target was, for lack of a better word, targeted. The attack exposed 40 million credit and debit card accounts; fraud-related losses were about $18.5 million.

In 2019, Facebook, now actively involved in the health care sector, failed to prevent more than 540 million user records from being captured and subsequently exposed online. In other words, in a few hours, 15 percent of the world’s population had their data compromised, and Facebook was powerless to stop this from occurring.

Who’s responsible for these attacks?

Lee told me that, when exploring potential offenders based on geographic location, “recent reports point to Russia and China as two of the biggest cybersecurity threats to America.” One of the major reasons why, he noted, involves “the lack of extradition agreements between the United States and both Russia and China,” which allows offenders “to conduct their illicit operations within geographic safe havens.”

Even if law enforcement identifies offenders, the complete lack of extradition agreements gives these actors a great degree of freedom. In both China and Russia, it’s important to note that hackers often work on behalf of the government.

A screenshot of the FBI wanted poster for Chinese military members involved in the Equifax hacking. FBI/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Protecting Yourself

Rather alarmingly, people still fall for the “Nigerian Prince” scam, which involves an individual receiving an unsolicited email from someone pretending to be a foreign dignitary or high-level executive. The elderly are particularly at risk.

“Since numerous instances of identity theft are a result of interacting with socially engineered emails where offenders claim to be legitimate retailers, banks and financial providers, or delivery services,” Lee said, “it would be wise for consumers to be cautious about accepting what they see in online messages at face value.”

One thing that individuals can do to keep themselves safe from fraudulent emails, he suggested, is to look “for signs of foul play.” This, at first, may appear challenging simply because offenders regularly use the same logos and symbols used by legitimate vendors. They also tend to stress that the issue (or issues) raised in the email is time-sensitive. An urgent response, the recipient is told, is of prime importance.

People should always carefully read and scrutinize emails before interacting with them. For example, Lee said, “a fraudulent email from FedEx may contain a subject line/title comprised of a collection of nonsensical numbers (such as ‘No. 17283’) or include language that emphasizes a time-sensitive matter (such as ‘URGENT: PERSONAL INFORMATION WAS SENT TO YOU’).”

Moreover, the email address may also be hosted on a public email domain, such as Gmail or Yahoo. As obvious as it sounds, legitimate organizations will never send emails using public email domains. Large organizations, Lee stressed, “tend to have their corporate name within the email domain itself (for example, @paypal.com), so even if their legitimate corporate name is listed in the front end of the email address, it is good practice to check if their domain name has it as well.”

Another aspect worth analyzing is the quality of writing. Spelling and grammar mistakes in emails are instant red flags that you, the reader, can identify rather quickly. Moreover, fraudulent emails often address recipients using generic terms, such as “Dear Customer” and “Dear Friend.”

Finally, when it comes to your personal data, try your very best to keep as much of it offline as possible. Again, try not to outsource your information to Big Tech companies if possible. You can request that your social media platform, health care provider, bank, university, and so forth never, under any circumstances, share your information with a third party without your explicit consent.

Although it’s becoming increasingly difficult to protect ourselves in these digitally infused times, exercising vigilance may prove to be the difference between being safe and becoming just another hapless victim of identity theft.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.