Identity Theft Skeptic Ends Up As Fraud Victim

An anonymous reader writes "British TV host Jeremy Clarkson recently wrote a newspaper editorial ridiculing the uproar that had occurred after the British government admitted to losing two compact discs containing the personal information on 25 million people. To support his claim about the overhyped risks of identity theft, he published his bank account information in the article. Proving that some identity thieves have a sense of humor, a week later, he found out that someone had set up an automatic bank transfer for $1000 to a diabetes charity from his account. This comes less than a year after the CEO of LifeLock, an identity theft protection company which publishes the CEO's social security number on its website, himself was a victim of financial fraud. Back in July of 2007, a man in Texas was able to secure a $500 loan from a payday loan company using the CEO's widely publicized SSN. Will this latest incident finally prove that identity theft is real, and that publishing your own financial info is an invitation for fraud?"

Comments

Re:If you give it away

[smilindog2000]

I notice that few of us here offer any real personal information... my e-mail is bill@billrocks.org, and if you bother to reply to a challenge e-mail, I'll read whatever you have to say. Put financial information on-line? Hell no. That'd be plain stupid.

Re:If you give it away

[ArsonSmith]

It's because the term is a bit of a misnomer. There is no such thing as "Identity theft." You're identity is the only thing that can never be stolen from you. (Similar in concept to calling copyright violations, theft.) Obtaining personal information and utilizing it for gain is considered "Impersonation fraud."