My Mom Caught Me Playing Mob Wars

In our most recent lecture for CAS 283, we discussed the concepts of Identity theft and Identity fraud. These two terms are often associated with each other and often interchanged to mean the same thing but they are actually two different acts involving someone else’s identity. The difference between identity theft and identity fraud are clear when they are defined. Identity theft is the act of stealing someone else’s information and pretending to be that person by assuming their identity. Meanwhile, identity fraud is the act of pretending to be someone else and actually using their stolen information to gain something. There are many types of identity theft and fraud such as financial, criminal, id cloning, synthetic and medical theft or fraud. The most common type being financial, where the information of another’s identity is used to obtain money, goods, or services.

In today’s society people are constantly putting personal information out in cyberspace for a variety of reasons. The internet is a cornucopia of personal information of all its users and when enough of it is collectively used it can be enough to fabricate or represent an identity. In lecture, the professor used a video example of a teenager who was asked to fill out a car application to gain progress in a game on his Facebook page. The user was probably asked to provide just enough information to form an identity and thought nothing of giving out that information. I can’t exactly remember what this particular individual’s information was used for but it was definitely fraudulent. The thing is that once that information is out there, it only takes the right person with the right kinds of skills to access it. I believe I was actually a victim of a case of financial identity theft and fraud.

This incident occurred in the spring of my freshman year of college, when I was a prime target for such theft. I’m sure I was a victim similar to the teenager that filled out the car application simply because I was fairly reckless with very simple information in my younger days (cause I've matured a lot in the past two years…kinda, sorta, not really). Back to my experience, I remember returning home from Spring Break, my father and I were driving back to State College from the Pittsburgh airport and decided to grab take-out dinner from the restaurant that I work at. It was a Friday, I remember because it was the first Friday night I hadn't worked in way too long. I arrive at the restaurant and the parking lot if filled as usual on a Friday night, but among the cars was a tow truck from Altoona which struck me a fairly odd. I continued into the restaurant to get my take-out and chat with some coworkers but then one coworker informed me that the man with the tow truck was actually looking for me. Immediately I became super suspicious and curious so I went out to the tow truck and found the guy driving it and as though he was about to hand me a subpoena, he verified my name and then asked if I had my car. I told him I didn't and he asked where it was, he asked where my ’05 black Honda was. I stopped him immediately because that wasn't my car at all. I told him that no one in my family has a car matching that. He proceeded to tell me he was sent to this address, the restaurant I work at, to repo a ’05 black Honda owned by a Zachary Barlow.

At this point I was completely thrown off guard and began asking too many questions and he showed me his clipboard and the that was the only information he had, was my name, the address of the restaurant I work at, and the type of car to repo. Once I assured him he had faulty information he just took off and I never saw him again. Later that week, my manager calls me and tell me to call this number that’s been harassing the restaurant by calling nonstop requesting me. I called the number and it was a lawyer from Texas. He continued to ask me about the car that I didn't have and then asked me if the last four digits of my SSN were what he had and all I told him was that what he had wasn't it. At that point he apologized to me for all the confusion and trouble and I never heard from him again either. I believe someone took very basic information from my Facebook page and then fabricated an identity from it. I didn't think much of this experience other than the fact that it was bizarre because it was literally by chance that I actually ran into the Altoona tow guy, but my dad along with a few coworkers helped me learn from it in the sense that I need to be much more careful and caution whenever I'm revealing even the most minuscule information online.