Statement of James R. White, Dir., Strategic Issues, GAO. Identity theft is a serious and growing problem in the U.S. Taxpayers are harmed when identity thieves file fraudulent tax documents using stolen names and Social Security numbers. In 2010 alone, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) identified over 245,000 identity theft incidents that affected the tax system. The hundreds of thousands of taxpayers with tax problems caused by identity theft represent a small percentage of the expected 140 million individual returns filed, but for those affected, the problems can be quite serious. GAO was asked to describe, among other things, (1) when IRS detects identity theft based refund and employment fraud, (2) the steps IRS has taken to resolve, detect, and prevent innocent taxpayers' identity theft related problems, and (3) constraints that hinder IRS's ability to address these issues.This testimony is based on GAO's previous work on identity theft, which was updated by examining data on identity theft cases and interviewing IRS officials. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.

"Phishing" is the hot new identity theft scam. An unsuspecting victim receives an e-mail that seems to come from a bank or other financial institution, and it contains a link to a Web site where s/he is asked to provide account details. The site looks legitimate, and 3 to 5 percent of people who receive the e-mail go on to surrender their information-to crooks. One e-mail monitoring organization reported 2.3 billion phishing messages in February 2004 alone. If that weren't enough, the crooks have expanded their operations to include malicious code that steals identity information without the computer user's knowledge. Thousands of computers are compromised each day, and phishing code is increasingly becoming part of the standard exploits. Written by a phishing security expert at a top financial institution, this unique book helps IT professionals respond to phishing incidents. After describing in detail what goes into phishing expeditions, the author provides step-by-step directions for discouraging attacks and responding to those that have already happened. In Phishing, Rachael Lininger: Offers case studies that reveal the technical ins and outs of impressive phishing attacks. Presents a step-by-step model for phishing prevention. Explains how intrusion detection systems can help prevent phishers from attaining their goal-identity theft. Delivers in-depth incident response techniques that can quickly shutdown phishing sites.

Identity crime, which encompasses both identity theft and identity fraud, is one of the fastest growing crimes around the world, yet it lacks its own identity: there is no universally accepted definition, little understanding of what the crime is or should be, and no legal framework placing the crime into a coherent and effective grouping of criminal sanctions. In this book, Dr. Syed Ahmed addresses and proposes solutions for resolving these issues and tackles head-on the various facets of what is needed to deal with Identity Crime. A comprehensive and an exhaustive study of different types of Identity Crime is conducted and practical recommendations for preventing and minimizing the impact of identity crime is presented for all to consider.