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Organized Crime In The New Millennium

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stolen SSN to file a forged tax return and attempt to get a fraudulent refund early in the<br />

filing season. A taxpayer will need to fill out Form 14039, Identity <strong>The</strong>ft Affidavit.<br />

As for the future of medical care and Medicaid, people are mostly concerned about<br />

cloud computing. <strong>The</strong> addition of using cloud information within United States medicare<br />

system would institute easily accessible health information for individuals, but that also<br />

makes it easier for identity theft. Currently, new technology is being produced to help<br />

encrypt and protect files, which will create a smooth transition to cloud technology in the<br />

healthcare system.<br />

Notification<br />

Many states followed California's lead and enacted mandatory data breach notification<br />

laws. As a result, companies that report a data breach typically report it to all their<br />

customers.<br />

Spread and Impact<br />

Surveys in the USA from 2003 to 2006 showed a decrease in the total number of<br />

victims and a decrease in the total value of identity fraud from US$47.6 billion in 2003 to<br />

$15.6 billion in 2006. <strong>The</strong> average fraud per person decreased from $4,789 in 2003 to<br />

$1,882 in 2006. A Microsoft report shows that this drop is due to statistical problems<br />

with the methodology, that such survey-based estimates are "hopelessly flawed" and<br />

exaggerate the true losses by orders of magnitude.<br />

<strong>The</strong> 2003 survey from the Identity <strong>The</strong>ft Resource Center found that:<br />

<br />

<br />

Only 15% of victims find out about the theft through proactive action taken by a<br />

business<br />

<strong>The</strong> average time spent by victims resolving the problem is about 330 hours<br />

73% of respondents indicated the crime involved the thief acquiring a credit card<br />

<strong>In</strong> a widely publicized account, Michelle Brown, a victim of identity fraud, testified before<br />

a U.S. Senate Committee Hearing on Identity <strong>The</strong>ft. Ms. Brown testified that: "over a<br />

year and a half from January 1998 through July 1999, one individual impersonated me<br />

to procure over $50,000 in goods and services. Not only did she damage my credit, but<br />

she escalated her crimes to a level that I never truly expected: she engaged in drug<br />

trafficking. <strong>The</strong> crime resulted in my erroneous arrest record, a warrant out for my<br />

arrest, and eventually, a prison record when she was booked under my name as an<br />

inmate in the Chicago Federal Prison."<br />

<strong>In</strong> Australia, identity theft was estimated to be worth between A$1billion and A$4 billion<br />

per annum in 2001.<br />

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