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Portrait of an Identity Thief

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the getting-off-easy dept.

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."

19 of 335 comments (clear)

  1. Its remarkably easy to scam people by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason most people don't do it is because they're honest and want to help out the human race instead of being a drain on society.

    --
    God spoke to me.
    1. Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The reason most people don't do it is because they're honest and want to help out the human race instead of being a drain on society.

      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.

      --
      This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    2. Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people by Korin43 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Considering how much money could be made through illegal means and how easily, morals are a much more important deterrent than the police. The police are the back up plan ;)

    3. Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I know... what a joke... an 'identify theft addict'. What, is stealing someone's identity this year's new black/bipolar? It's not a fucking mental illness.

    4. Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people by MBCook · · 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."

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    5. Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

      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.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    6. Re:Its remarkably easy to scam people by JavaRob · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Most religions have some notion of an afterlife of pain or punishment, or karmic balance, or some such - i.e. consequences.
      More importantly, doing "bad" things tends to have much more immediate consequences. Most immoral things are "bad" because you are harming someone else. Someone who will, in all likelihood, not be very happy about it, and will try to:
      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.

      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?
      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.

      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?
      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.
  2. Yeah... by GammaKitsune · · Score: 5, Funny

    That is what worries Mr. Sharma's wife, Damaris, 21, who has no time for the Internet as she raises the couple's 1-year-old daughter, Bellamarie.
    "I hate computers," she said. "I think they're the devil."

    Sorry. I just thought that was funny, and had to post it.

    --
    Gamertag: WyleType
    1. Re:Yeah... by bsartist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I got a laugh out of it. But it's kind of depressing to think about, and all too common - too many people would rather blame the tool (in this case a computer) than admit that their spouse/child/dog/whatever has done something wrong. It's sad to think that this woman might truly believe that a machine somehow corrupted her poor innocent husband and turned him to a live of evil.

      --
      Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  3. Stupid Criminal? by locokamil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can anyone say... script kiddie?

    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.

    1. Re:Stupid Criminal? by Pink+Tinkletini · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, most criminals who get caught are dumb. You don't hear about the smart ones--they don't get caught.

      --
      And now, a PSA from David Lynch.
  4. Addict, My Foot by PavementPizza · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's this "identity theft addict" balonium? Do you call bank robbers "bank robbing addicts"? All bad behavior is not addiction. The guy is a lowlife crook who found an easy way to make money and kept coming back to it, plain and simple.

    --
    Viper is the preferred editor of the Emacs operating system.
  5. No Remorse??? by innocence18 · · 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

    Mr. Sharma said, "because by then things have changed so much that it will be kind of hard for me to just go back in there and do everything."

    which implies that if it wasn't hard to get back in to he might consider it.

    What an ass!

    --
    Anonymity of the internet is responsible for the views expressed in my post.
  6. Shiva Sharma? by bsartist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are we offshoring identity theft to India too?

    --
    Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  7. What to do if.... by BobSutan · · Score: 5, Informative

    As I posted in another related story, if you ever suspect (or know) you've been the victim of Identity Theft, here's what to do:

    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

    --
    "On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
    1. Re:What to do if.... by locotx · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is great and all, but I found that most of the time the credit agencies don't help too much. I've been a victim. Big whoop, you have a "Credit Fraud Victim" tag on your credit reports. That still doesn't matter, a company can still grant that credit request. You can have "Do not open any more credit accounts for this person" on your credit report and guess what, that will not stop companies from granting it. Credit reporting companies are there to report the bad things and protect the companies that are granting credit and even then they 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. And STILL, I get credit accounts opened up. Nothing says frustration than doing everything that has been asked only to find out a $13,000.00 loan has been granted without you knowing and now it's in collection. Then when you contact the company that granted the loan, they treat you as if you are a theft and have to prove you didn't request the loan. Where as my thought process is "Wait a second you sorry sack, you granted a loan and you didn't check and see if it was me and now you are saying that I am trying to trick you out of paying this, you must be nuts." It's a very frustrating battle. This is something that happens a lot . .it's the "elephant in the room no one is talking about". . . but until it happens to you . .you will not know the frustration of having your identity stolen (or used fradulently).

  8. Re:Unravelling or being unwoven? by Nutria · · Score: 5, Insightful
    On the whole, we seem to be slowly moving from a "govern thyself" to a "If no-ones watching, why not?" frame of mind.

    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
    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  9. Re:So what again... by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Informative
    So what again are the names of those Atheist charities?

    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/ for an insight into compassion in secular society.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  10. Re:Unravelling or being unwoven? by G-funk · · Score: 5, Insightful
    On the whole, we seem to be slowly moving from a "govern thyself" to a "If no-ones watching, why not?" frame of mind.


    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?
    --
    Send lawyers, guns, and money!