Portrait of an Identity Thief 335
Ant writes to tell us that the New York Times has a closer look and an interview with an identity theft addict. From the article: "As far back as 2002, Mr. Sharma began picking the locks on consumer credit lines using a computer, the Internet and a deep understanding of online commerce, Internet security and simple human nature, obtained through years of trading insights with like-minded thieves in online forums. And he deployed the now-common rods and reels of data theft -- e-mail solicitations and phony Web sites -- that fleece the unwitting."
Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
I think of myself as an honest person, but a desire to retain my freedom has also kept me from straying into a life of crime. And whether or not a need to be honest is universal I don't know, but I suspect the deterrent of prison is enough to keep most people straight. Lots of us have the skills and opportunities to commit some fairly lucrative crimes, though we choose not to, for whichever reason.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
Unravelling or being unwoven? (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder if this is almost being encouraged by the powers that be as it fosters a feeling that it's ok for them to be watching because I no longer expect the others around me to be governing their own behavior...
Re:Unravelling or being unwoven? (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder if this is almost being encouraged by the powers that be as it fosters a feeling that it's ok for them to be watching because I no longer expect the others around me to be governing their own behavior...
IMO, this devolution stems from a set of interrelated and feedback-reinforcing factors, some of which are
Re:Unravelling or being unwoven? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the main reason for that is the vast array of laws that are simply to serve corporations, not the people. Nobody's going to argue that it shouldn't be illegal to kill somebody, or break into his house, rape his wife and walk out with his TV. But with laws like the DMCA and various other corporate welfare schemes, people going to jail for weed, how can any man have respect for what's law, rather than simply live by their own ideas of what's right, and simply try to avoid being caught when those two systems aren't in harmony?
Re:Unravelling or being unwoven? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
True. They tend to form governments to get themselves organised, and it all goes downhill from there.
It's not so bad (Score:2)
Time and time again, those citizens form trained police forces to manage the irresponsible/criminal minority. There's usually a period in there where vigilantes manage "justice", but that gets messy.
It ain't pretty? It doesn't seem so horrible.
Think about it -- if most people actually enjoyed living in a dog-eat-dog worl
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:4, Insightful)
What's left to look at are those who are in a position of power and influence, and either aren't religious or believe that God is on their side - i.e. people who have either absolutely no concern with the consequences of their actions (in this world or the next) or believe those consequences will be positive in nature. People like Josef Stalin, Jim Jones, and Saddam Hussein.
Also, any parent will tell you the importance of teaching children about right vs. wrong. Have you ever really thought about what that says about our inborn tendencies? Why would that lesson need to be taught, if we weren't essentially amoral by nature? Further, look at how that lesson is taught. Do we teach our children to avoid being bad simply because it's bad? Or do we teach them that being bad has consequences?
What it essentially comes down to is a question of belief. The question of whether people are inherently good or evil has been debated forever, with no conclusive answer to it in sight. I have my beliefs on the matter, but I recognize those for what they are - belief, not knowledge. If you believe differently, I won't tell you that you're wrong, because I can't prove that. But neither can you prove that my belief is wrong.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
1) stop you from doing it again and/or
2) harm you in return: perhaps physically, or (for example) telling everyone what you did harms you socially.
Of course, if you don't get caught and aren't suspected, you don't need to worry about that directly. But we're social animals; we have some instincts and passed-on skills (empathy, conscience, etc.) to help us live in cooperative groups.
That lesson needs to be taught, perhaps, because we're essentially *stupid* by nature. We've evolved into a species that passes on essential knowledge to our offspring via teaching (because it works a lot better than only passing on slowly-evolved instincts!). If you raise kids without passing on the essentials (including how to interact with others), you're sending them out into the world as cripples, and they're going to screw up a lot and be miserable. That's not their "natural state" -- normally, this knowledge would have been passed on. In the natural human state, the parent teaches the child.
Questions like "are we essentially amoral or moral" aren't really answerable just because they don't match up well with the real situation. Morality is the "best practices" we've figured out over time: how to live and cooperate with other people with a minimum of frustration and fighting. A kid might figure out some of that stuff on his own ("damn, I punch just one girl and now nobody wants to talk to me..."), just like he might figure out a hammer is for hitting things with... but without teaching, he's not going to master it any more than he'd master driving a car out into traffic if he found one sitting in the garage one day.
If you teach your kid that he'll get punished when he grabs Billy's toy, he learns that *you* don't want him to grab toys. If you teach him to observe that Billy is sad when his toy is stolen, and Billy might be his friend if they share toys instead, and it feels good to have a friend... well, you're teaching him how to act even when you're not around, for starters. You're also giving him skills he can use in many other situations.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
In simple terms, the reason parents teach their kids 'to be good', is because it's just easier to learn that way. I believe the kid would eventually learn the benefits of being good, just from observing the reactions of others when it behaves badly. But that would be a slower, more painstaking process.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2, Insightful)
"What's left to look at are those who are in a position of power and influence, and either aren't religious or believe that God is on their side - i.e. people who have either absolutely no concern with the consequences of their actions (in this world or the next) or believe those consequences will be positive in nature. People like Josef Stalin, Jim Jones, and Saddam Hussein."
Ah, the classic "all atheists are evil, because they do not believe in god" argument. Don't you see anything wrong with it? Stalin e
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:3)
Not much. It basically says that to function well as part of a society, you need to know the rules of that society. We say "rigth and wrong" but in reality we mostly mean accepted and/or not-accepted by society.
The rules you need to know are different for different societies, so obviously they'll have to be learnt after birth.
An Americ
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:3, Insightful)
Any time you've got lots of older boys & young men without a disciplining influence, there will be trouble.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't prove anything about human nature by using the extremes like Stalin and looters in a city.. you have to look at the whole - and in general we do tend to act for the good of society (which is a good evolutionary trait btw.).
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. -- Voltaire
Re:So what again... (Score:5, Informative)
United Way, The Smith Family, Medecin Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, Starlight foundation, etc etc. If you weren't just trolling, have a look here http://www.secularhumanism.org/ [secularhumanism.org] for an insight into compassion in secular society.
come again? (Score:2)
Are you sure those are actually atheist, espousing a belief that there is no god, and not just non-religious?
Re:come again? (Score:4, Insightful)
The mistake you're making is that you think you have to advertise your charitible giving. That's almost entirely a religious evangelistic behavior, stuffing propoganda in the thanksgiving dinner boxes when giving them out.
Re:So what again... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm gonna be modded Troll for this, but here we go anyhow.
United way is not a charity.
Oh sure, they may be listed as one and have all the benefits, but they do not help people.
Their function is to collect money and give it to real charities. They never, ever directly help people.
On top of that, they don't give all that money to the charities. They use 8% of it for their paychecks and literature. (This number could be wrong. They apparently don't advertise it anymore as anyone with a brain can fi
Re:So what again... (Score:4, Insightful)
It doesn't mean there's a hidden agenda. It merely reflects the fact that catholic charities and churches can be found in many places where it would be too expensive, dangerous, or impractical to set up another office.
If the purpose is the same, and someone else already has the infrastructure in place, it doesn't make much sense to spend money building a duplicate of that infrastructure.
Re:So what again... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Funny)
That's funny.
As an honest American, I find that my desire to retain my freedom is pushing me closer and closer to a life of crime with each passing day.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:3, Interesting)
I know... what a joke... a 'heroin addict'.
I know... what a joke... a 'self mutilation addict'.
He obviosly gets the same kind of rush from identity theft that people get from shoplifting, gambling, drug use, etc.
Just about anything can be addictive.
Examples: Rich people shoplifting & depressed people cutting themselves. Obviously neither group is doing it for their health.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:5, Insightful)
Everything is a mental illness.
If it is a mental illness, that means two things. It's not your fault (hint: it is), and it's a condition (hint: thus insurance must pay). No one in America has problems. Those would be their fault and they would have to pay a shrink to talk about them. But if you make it an illness...
What was that one that was "discovered" last month? Intermittent Explosive Disorder, aka "a really short temper."
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
In short, it is his fault that he has an addiction. It is in our interest as a society to pay for the recovery from this addiction.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:4, Insightful)
What about this is not a mental disorder? Society says you are not supposed to have a short temper, and typically having a short temper is not something that a person typically chooses.
I would postulate that given any person, there exists something you can do that will push them too far - something that will make them uncontrollably angry. For some it could be as simple as punching them in the face, or taunting them rudely for a while. For others it may take more. In either case, becoming angry is not a choice that the person is making - they may choose to try and suppress the emotion, but the human mind has only a very finite capability for handling aggression (as it is part of a very necessary fight-or-flight aggression system).
I was once injured on purpose in gym class back in high school (it was somewhat minor, but extremely painful), and I can still remember the incredible adrenaline rush and rage that followed - I was barely able to contain it (even thinking about it 8 years later affects me strongly), and if the person who had caused the injury had done anything more, such as taunting me, I would no longer have been able to restrain myself (likely resulting in significant injury to that jerk, as the human body can abuse itself temporarily to gain signifcant strength during an adrenaline rush). I, for one, do not think this makes me a bad person - it's something that mammals evolved a long time ago (and man extensively since becoming intensely social creatures). There does exist a point at which the rational mind simply cannot override it.
Back to mental illness... OED says that a mental illness is "a condition which causes serious abnormality in a person's thinking or behaviour." Some people simply have too short of a fuse - not because they felt like being an asshole, but because of a combination of genetic/environmental factors. It is probably good for these people to learn more about anger management to stretch their fuse a bit, but it is also probably wise for others to avoid provoking them. It's possible even that things that typically aren't a big deal to most people may be significant provokation for someone who has a serious temper issue - this makes it difficult for them to function well in society, and is thus a serious abnormality. There might not be a pill that makes it magically go away, but it doesn't make it any less serious of an issue.
Of course that does not mean that all people who think they have IED actually have it, or even if IED has been properly defined... mental health is a field which is still poorly understood on the whole, and sometimes wanders away from the realm of scientific fact, however if being diagnosed with a problem helps people seek treatment (and yes, mental health is a legitimate use of insurance money... it doesn't matter whether you have a cure for cancer or whatnot if a person's just going to kill themselves anyways due to a chemical imbalance).
I'm all for personal responsibility for the choices people make, but I do not think this is one of them. And for a rather small set of the population, it can be a socially crippling problem.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
Guess what? I've been clinically diagnosed with cyclothymia, for which I take sodium valproate - assumption is a big pain in the ass, is it not?
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:2)
What most people don't want to hear is how insecure our banking system REALLY is.
Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people (Score:3, Interesting)
Its remarkably easy to scam people
Unfortunately, this is all too true.
Just this morning, I read two stories on the second page of my (Dutch) newspaper.
The first described a woman who was director of a collective that was supposed to arrange fake marriages for immigrants who wanted to get Dutch citizenship. She asked for 20,000 euros for each arrangement. Of course, once she had the money, she didn't bother contacting the potential immigrant again. She made at least 80 million euros this way. She was
Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
"I hate computers," she said. "I think they're the devil."
Sorry. I just thought that was funny, and had to post it.
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
Some say temptation is a form of evil. Computer offers temptation, person becomes evil. Though I agree that this rationale is flawed, we're all a little guilty of it at one time or another. The logic usually runs along the lines of "If this hadn't happened, I'd be happy now." Easy to understand, really.
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
That's the flawed logic. The correct aphorism is: an idle mind is the Devil's workshop. Without pressing familial responsibilies to keep their minds and hands occupied, young people too easily get in troubl
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
It's a common response by the spouses of addicts.
The spouse blames [whatever] because it enabled or allowed the behavoir.
Addiction support groups are setup to deal with both addicts and their spouses.
If the guy had allowed his life to be devoured by Everquest, would you still blame her for thinking computers were the devil?
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
Quite right. To quote an over-used catchphrase, guns don't kill people, people kill people. Computers don't commit identify theft, people commit identify theft.
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
The Christian would say that the Devil uses any weakness to ensare the mortal soul.
The last(?) line in the movie Devil's Advocate http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118971/ [imdb.com] is a perfect example of this:
No need for computers. In his moment of moral triumph, the heroic young lawyer does himself in.
Re:Yeah... (Score:2)
so what proof do we have of this guys actual name (Score:4, Funny)
Stupid Criminal? (Score:5, Insightful)
The guy is clearly dumb as a rock. Who the hell takes a stolen credit card, buys stuff with it, and then has the stuff delivered to his doorstep???!!? I don't know jack about stealing identities, but this guy's MO is just plain stoopid.
Trust the mainstream media to make him sound like some kind of twisted, tortured genius.
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:5, Insightful)
He may not be robbing liquor stores but what he is doing is till fairly petty crime, it doesn't take much intelligence to do what he does.
Thats probably the reason why you see so many people getting caught for this stuff, any geek knows the dangers of using a stolen credit card and ways to avoid getting caught, but I'm sure most of them are too busy posting on slashdot to bother.
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:2)
In other words, and generalized, men, especially young men.
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:2)
This is why he got caught, because he did not care about the safeness of his delivery procedure (whatever the reason was, laziness, etc). For every man like him in jail, there are hundreds of others who are more careful, who use safe drop mailboxes, who are currently enjoying their scaming activities. And a lot of those people will probably never get caught.
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:2)
Re:Stupid Criminal? (Score:4, Interesting)
That is what he got caught and charged on.
But consider this scenario. Suppose he uses Paypal to send money through credit cards to a fake account linked to a bank account created using a fake driver's license and social security number. I don't think the banks actually have a way to check the validity of either of them.
Now, if he got your online banking info and a maybe copy of your check (not sure about this part, my bank just started not using full numbers just last month in online banking), you're screwed. It can be emptied and no chargebacks - nothing.
The main evil is those phishing e-mails. If you get enter your info in there, you're screwed big time.
I suppose it's easier to get credit cards by buying lists from hackers who have gotten into e-commerce sites but maybe more dangerous to use?
But, this is not even identity theft; the real evil starts when people start taking loans in your name. This happened at our local housing complex. The parents of students going to school would co-sign the lease agreements that required a SSN and address and all that. A clerk working there would copy the document and request whatever amount of financial aid she wanted and just cash it in. She got caught only because she was too stupid to cover her trail. I'm sure there are a lot of experts out there who do it perfectly and cover their trail perfectly.
BTW, as a disclaimer, this is just stuff I've noticed. I don't visit or know of those ID theft sites.
Addict, My Foot (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Addict, My Foot (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Addict, My Foot (Score:3, Insightful)
According to one of the investigators, ""We were surprised at how forthcoming he was," Mr. Ruh said. "He was very proud of his accomplishments."
Looking back at some of Mr. Sharma's other comments in the article, I began to check off a number of traits that may or may n
Addiction is a description, not an excuse (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Addict, My Foot (Score:2)
Re:Addict, My Foot (Score:2)
Just looking for that sacrafice (Score:2, Redundant)
B.
Re:Just looking for that sacrafice (Score:2)
Congress ... maybe. Banks ... they don't care. (Score:3, Interesting)
The banks don't care. Really, they don't.
...
They get paid no matter what.
The only people who suffer are the retailers who sold the stuff and who now get hit with a chargeback so they're out the money AND the product
And the guy who got his number stolen.
If the b
Re:Congress ... maybe. Banks ... they don't care. (Score:3, Insightful)
B.
No Remorse??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Did anyone else find this guys total lack of remorse in his actions a little...well...wrong!
Not to mention this quote
which implies that if it wasn't hard to get back in to he might consider it.
What an ass!
Re:No Remorse??? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's like a druggie rationalizing "If I don't score for a year or two, by then things will have changed so much that it will be kind of hard for me to just go back out there and buy drugs again."
What that statement really reveals is that he hasn't quite accepted that, if it really is an addictive behavior for him, he'll never be able to use a computer again and go near a chatroom or web forum witho
Shiva Sharma? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shiva Sharma? (Score:3, Funny)
Are you kidding? (Score:2)
Oh come on! Do you seriously think that that's his real name?
--MarkusQ
Identity theft ISN'T! (Score:4, Insightful)
It's the same as the copyright argument. You cannot steal someone's identity. You can use it frauduantly. You can pose as someone you are not. You can give false witness. But identity fraud ISN'T!
Re:Identity theft ISN'T! (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, we all know that is pretty far fetched. But taking identifying *information* about you and doing t
Re:Identity theft ISN'T! (Score:2)
Wrong - NOT THEFT! (Score:3, Insightful)
When you use someone else's identity in a fraudulent manner, the original person STILL HAS THEIR IDENTITY!!! It is NOT THEFT, because you have not taken anything from them, they are deprived of nothing (except maybe some abstract type of sovereign individualism). But you are using their identity, and so are they!
I think the fundamental
Re:Identity theft ISN'T! (Score:3, Insightful)
I was talking about "theft of identity" not "using an identity in a fraudulent manner to commit theft". And you are right, fraud usually does lead to theft. But stealing someone's identity is near impossible.
And both theft and fraud are criminal and should be treated as such.
The essential psychological basis of a criminal (Score:4, Insightful)
...is with the absence of any sense of responsibility for the consequences.
"It's an addiction, no doubt about that," said Mr. Sharma
Not the Sharpest Tool... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not sure I get it... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm not sure I get it... (Score:2)
Frankly, I need a car analogy to explain anything having to do with computers or I'm totally lost. (As lost as a babe in the woods thrown out with the bath water.)
This guy is an idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
In the end, anybody he ripped off probably didn't have to pay, so it was the merchants that got screwed if anybody, and this is becoming harder and harder to pull off.
If there's one thing this article does point out, it's that if the feds really want to stop identity theft damages, they'd shut down Western Union. That money transfer service pretty much solely exists now to play a party to scams of this nature.
What to do if.... (Score:5, Informative)
Contact the credit agency of your choice to put a fraud watch on your file. The agency you contact will notify the other two for you.
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
Its also a good idea to call 1-888-5OPTOUT to prevent banks, insurance companies, and those pesky fakers (remember the ChoicePoint fiasco) from getting ahold of your credit report. All 3 agencies use that same number for the opt out process. That should significantly cut down on those pre-approved credit card offers you get in the mail that can be stolen and used in your name as well.
And for the Active Duty members in the crowd that happen to be TDY, you should consider getting an Active Duty military alert placed in your name in addition to a fraud alert. You can never be too safe when it comes to preventing ID theft. However, no matter what you do there's still no guarantee you won't fall victim to the random oddity that can occur (such as a bartender swiping your card # and going nuts on Amazon).
For more info on how to minimize the risks of ID theft, or how to recover from it, check out the FTC's website at www.ftc.gov/idtheft
Re:What to do if.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What to do if.... (Score:2)
are merely reporting a potential risk. They do not help the consumer. REPEAT. They do not help the consumer. I've had a "Credit Fraud Victim" label attached to all my credit reports (all 3 companies) and I have a case number with the FTC.
Did you lock your report? If you're in CA, that (supposedly) requires your OK to do a hard inquiry.
he's one of the first? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nothing a bullet to the forehead wouldn't fix (Score:2)
Look it up in your gut [comedycentral.com]
Pretty funny! (Score:2)
"Colbert Report: Truthiness Anyone can read the news to you. Stephen promises to feel the news at you."
B.
Re:Nothing a bullet to the forehead wouldn't fix (Score:3, Interesting)
The solution is simple. (Score:4, Interesting)
The banks already have the systems to do automated calling.
The banks already have your phone numbers. And your mailing address.
Now the thief has to steal your credit card numbers
Or steal the numbers and fake your ID and go to a bank branch and change the phone numbers.
All of that is possible for a thief to do
But doing that would move the risk and costs to the banks. They prefer it the way it currently is because the banks aren't losing money on these fraud cases.
Re:Nothing a bullet to the forehead wouldn't fix (Score:2)
First of all, they haven't started a war on identity theft yet, so until t
Re:Nothing a bullet to the forehead wouldn't fix (Score:2)
Re:Nothing a bullet to the forehead wouldn't fix (Score:2)
Re:Nothing a bullet to the forehead wouldn't fix (Score:2)
B.
TFA (Score:3, Informative)
July 4, 2006
Stolen Lives
Identity Thief Finds Easy Money Hard to Resist
By TOM ZELLER Jr.
By the time of Shiva Brent Sharma's third arrest for identity theft, at the age of 20, he had taken in well over $150,000 in cash and merchandise in his brief career. After a certain point, investigators stopped counting.
The biggest money was coming in at the end, postal inspectors said, after Mr. Sharma had figured out how to buy access to stolen credit card accounts
I once heard (Score:2)
Re:Another Portrait (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just prove the US system is broken (Score:2)
So now the MO has changed.
Instead of having your identity stolen, one of the following happens:
- The magnetic stripe on your card is cloned and someone shoulder-surfs you putting your PIN in. The cloned card is used in ancient cash machines that don't read the chip.
- Your wallet is stolen shortly after someone watches you enter your PIN. OK, the card in there