How much Internet fraud/identity theft do you REALLY think there is?

I think there's A LOT.

Reading this article and reading peoples' responses really got me thinking. I wonder what would happen if people actually knew the scale of fraud going on. I suspect it's a lot more than anyone thinks or even imagines. I'll try not to rant about the tri-bureaus because I personally think they're complicit, too.

If you pay for a credit report from Equifax (I have) and strange charges start showing up for a lot of people, something's wrong. According to people posting there, looks like Paypal is also leaking pretty badly.

Worth a read, especially the comments.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/11/chris-jupin-nev.html

http://www.cjupin.com/2007/09/13/credit-card-scam-digismarketcom

RMX

 

What I don't understand - and what really pisses me off - is that you go and set up a Paypal account and 20 minutes later you're inundated with all these phishing scams. There's obviously a problem over at Paypal if this is happening. Same with Equifax. Neither seems to want to do anything. The most egregious, IMO, are the credit bureaus who 1) have a stranglehold on overall consumer borrowing; 2) refuse to assist, or make it impossible for, consumers who have been defrauded to clean up their credit reports; 3) don't care to fix inaccuracies; and 4) make money selling "credit fraud protection" when this is a problem they've helped create. What else is new with these people?

Social security numbers were not created as a national ID system, although through the efforts of our friendly credit reporting agencies, that's what they've become. If the wrong person gets a hold of your SS, you're totally screwed, possibly for life. Considering the amount of personal financial damage this can cause, don'tcha think there ought to be some pretty heavy regulation with regard to how much people can rely on this information? At least there should be some kind of regulation stating that a consumer who can prove he/she was the target of ID theft, that the bureaus MUST remove the information or face some kind of penalty?

In regard to how it can affect one's life, I would put ID theft up there with a debilitating, chronic disease; something that can take over without your permission and completely f-up everything in your life. The sad part is it really doesn't have to be that way.

RMX