Identity thieves are becoming more bold and more creative. With a little - well, maybe a lot - help from technology, identity thieves can clean a person's identity clock in the swipe of a card, or the push of a key. Either technology is moving at ludicrous speed, thieves are bored with too much time on their hands, thieves are desperate to obtain ill-begotten means......or all of the aforementioned.
The media is all over this identity theft crisis, with article after article in the print media and segment after segment in the broadcast industry. While I am thankful for the warnings, caveats, and instructions on how to best protect my financial well-being, at times it seems as if all the media is accomplishing is giving thieves more ideas on how to abscond with my funds.
By now, we all know that sending any type of card, be it debit or credit, out of one's sight when paying for an item or service, is akin to a written invitation to the thief to help him or herself to someone else's dollars. Ankle-swipers, hand-held swipers that can be hidden in the palm of a hand, even tiny swipers that can be expertly held between fingers are being used by unscrupulous ne'er-do-wells intent on moving money from us to them.
Segue to a very recent news item from research that shows that almost fifty percent of all identity theft is perpetrated by family members! Teens who take a parent's credit card to adult children who take money from good old (literally) mom and dad without consent. It is almost safer to send your credit card with a waitstaff stranger than someone with whom you have a genetic connection.
This news is almost comic in its tragedy. This is the kind of scenario with which William Shakespeare could have built an entire play upon or the lyrics of a song could be based on.......and maybe it was.............
1970 - Badfinger's "Come and Get It".
"if you want it, here it is - come and get it but you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast."
Ancora imparo
