Identity theft is the real thing

Last week, a Wall Street Journal article entitled “The fallacy of identity theft” may have given some people the mistaken impression that there’s nothing to worry about, and that everyone’s identities are safe. Unfortunately, however, that’s not quite the case, and yes, you do need to be paranoid about it. It’s the real deal, and identity thieves can, and do on a regular basis, steal peoples’ identities and wreak havoc on their lives.

The article starts out by deconstructing the term “identity theft” which makes it seem less dangerous than it really is and states that “identity theft” doesn’t steal anybody’s true identity, or personhood of what makes them what they are. When you are a victim of this crime, you remain you, but that’s only a small consolation when a stranger is charging up luxury cruises and fur coats on your credit card. It’s a semantic bit of theory that was actually played out on the “Family Guy” cartoon when actor James Woods stole the identity of cartoon character Peter Griffin, to the point of moving into Peter’s home, sitting at his dinner table and sleeping in his bed. It was a funny episode, but of course, that’s not what identity theft really is.

The article comments about how experts “hounded” people into shredding bank statements and being vigilant about monitoring credit reports, but the fact is, doing so really is a good idea. It’s not a conspiracy by manufacturers of shredding machines, or of companies offering various fee-based monitoring and protection services. And here’s the real kicker, at the end of the article: “It turns out that ‘identity theft’ is one of the most brilliant linguistic constructs ever, with its terrifying specter of losing not just your money—but your soul. Maybe it’s time that we renamed it what it is: a fear campaign designed to get us to buy expensive services that we don’t need.”

Advice like this is what lulls people into a false sense of security and prevents them from taking the precautions that they need to take. Is it a fear campaign? To a degree, yes, it is. But it’s based on fear of something very real. So there is reason to be afraid and one must take the necessary steps to protect oneself – because you could be a victim.