The Government Can Invoke Measures to Reduce Identity Theft

Traditionally, identity theft was used to describe the use of stolen personal information. Identity fraud is similar to identity theft apart from the fact that the former is within its purview. There are many possible crimes that can be committed as a result of identity theft. For instance, one can use identity theft to gain entry into a different country and start working there as a fictitious person. Another instance is when an identity thief takes up another fictitious identity to avoid being captured for a criminal offence he/she has committed. This is known as criminal record identity theft. Virtual identity theft is another instance of such a crime in which one uses professional, personal, or other different aspects of identity to develop virtual personalities to be used for fraud. Another case of identity fraud is credit identity theft which is arguably the most rampant form of identity fraud. In this case, identity thieves use stolen financial information to create fraud accounts and remit monies to those accounts. Credit identity theft has been rampant in the insurance sector. Several insurance and loan fraud cases have been reported in which individuals have requested for loans and insurance covers using the identities and financial account information of other individuals. Theft for border entry is another rampant form of identity fraud especially in developed countries such as the United States. The immigration department has reported several cases of immigration fraud. Individuals from different countries who have not rightfully earned access to the country tend to impersonate themselves and pretend to be citizens of the United States. Most of them come to seek employment opportunities. The government can invoke several measures to reduce identity theft. First, it can force unique biometric data to be a requirement during personal identification. The government can also set up a central repository which contains vital statistics. Personal information can also be limited to the country and no individual should be caught exporting it. These are among the few measures the government can implement to reduce identity theft cases.