The assertion in the popular media that “identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the US” is a too familiar factoid. Even to those of us practicing computer professionals, this frequently encountered expression of inherent dangers in our information system-based culture is usually taken as an accepted reality without the underlying analytic rigor we apply to debunking other such urban myths.

This article attempts to set the record straight by providing the quantitative background data necessary to understand and put identity theft (also known as identity fraud) into a general law enforcement context. In an attempt to more precisely define and bound the true scope of the problem, the author suggests that the computer’s role in identity theft incidents may have been misgauged through overestimates of reported losses. In fact, it would appear that too many crimes are counted as identity theft that are just traditional !fraud, though perhaps facilitated by computer technology. Moreover, this article makes the case that the fastest-growing crime in terms of monetary losses is not identity theft, but rather bankruptcy, both personal and corporate. The author concludes that identity theft-related crime is within a family of security problems whose sociological aspects present greater obstacles than can be resolved by reducing technological risks.

Identity theft is a fascinating and often-cited topic. This article is recommended to all readers, not only to appear smarter at the next cocktail party discussion, but also to provide useful insight into popular information system security policy implementation and practice, as well as the consequences thereof.