15.3: THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
- Page ID
- 67608
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Due to sociological and technological developments, forms and uses of identity theft are dynamic, making it difficult for government agencies to curb ID theft. The pattern of identity theft and fraud is often caused by a combination of factors, which includes but is not limited to (Experian, 2014):
- a lack of consumer knowledge about how to protect identity theft online
- a developing trust/comfort in social platform providers
- a need for these platforms to make money
- a lack of policing
Phishing
One common way that thieves acquire personal information is through Phishing, which utilizes bulk e-mail messages to entice recipients into revealing personal information. In 2005, a Gartner Phishing Study showed that 73 million Americans who used the Internet had received, on average, 50 phishing e-mails in the last year (Brody, Mulig, and Kimball, 2017). The message often urges the recipient to "verify" personal information by clicking on a link embedded in the message, which brings the user to a website that appears to be secure (often with logos from government institutions i.e. the FTIC), and prompts the user to confirm account numbers or passwords (FDIC, 2014).
Pharming
Pharming is a more technologically advanced form of phishing where a virus or malicious program is secretly installed on a computer. Computer users unintentionally download the malicious program without clicking on a link or opening an attachment. Opening a pharmer’s email message is all that is required to install the stealth application redirecting the browser to a counterfeit web site (Brody, et al, 2017).
Snapcash
Snapchat has recently released an additional feature to their app called "Snapcash" (SnapChat, 2014), which allows users to quickly send money to friends by placing a '$' in front of the amount of money they desire to send. The user must link the app to their debit card, and the money sent is taken directly from their bank account. Controversy surrounds this new feature because of recent security breaches where hackers captured photos and phone numbers from an estimated 4.6 million users (Touch Reviews, 2014).
Mobile Banking Applications
Mobile banking is quickly becoming the new norm for making banking transactions. According to Javelin Strategy, mobile banking has increased an estimated 40 percent in 2013, with 74,000 new users a day. However, the same study shows that the lack of security is the number one fear among potential customers (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2014). In reality, this technology may be a blessing in disguise- banks place a huge investment in security technology, and many banks, such as Bank of America, offer zero liability and cover 100 percent of mobile fraud losses if no protection rules were broken (Howard, 2014). That being said, it may be safer for customers not to know that mobile banking is safer because that could cause them to be more careless with their data/account information when using it.

