ID Theft: More Hype Than Harm
Business Week Online has an interesting story on whether the ID theft scare is actually hype by the media rather than an actual threat with harm being done.
The conclusion of the article is what caught my attention:
Perhaps the most spooky thing about the ID-theft scare is that chances are high the data weren’t stolen by some shadowy hacker in Estonia, after all, but someone very close to you. Fully one-fourth of the respondents in the 2003 FTC study who had been the victim of a financial fraud said they knew who had committed the crime, and in half those instances the perpetrator turned out to be a friend, relative, or neighbor.
So, like many crimes, the perpetrator is most likely to be known my the victim. As I told my wife this morning, she is more likely to kill me than anyone else is!
Carnival of Personal Finance #55…
Welcome to the 55th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. Before we jump in, I just want to say a few words. First of all, if you’re new to Raising4Boys, then welcome! This site is a joint venture between my wife and myself (in case you do…
Trackback by raising4boys.com — July 4, 2006 @ 6:08 pm
Carnival Time!…
We’ve blogged on Identity Theft before; this post, from Dogberry Patch (another candidate for cool blog name) questions whether it’s really such a big deal….
Trackback by InsureBlog — July 10, 2006 @ 7:07 am
Woops, looks like I somehow submitted this article to the Carnival of Personal Finance two weeks in a row? Not sure how I could have done that — brain fart I guess.
Sorry.
Comment by GaryP — July 10, 2006 @ 9:09 am