2.2 History of Identity Theft

The mutation from new technologies like ATM bank cards and online transactions in the cyber space has created a new, novel species of crime addressed as identity theft. The initial form of identity theft was only involving the mere act of stealing a person's identification like passport or birth certificate before the birth of credit cards in 1950's. This is due to the fact that a person could not obtain a credit card unless the person applied for it in person with the process of photographic identification. Therefore, the credit card was not very vulnerable for the purposes of tampering and identity theft, until the instance of Fair Issacs Organisation developed the FICO system of credit storing in the early eighties. This particular system, a system of rating for a person's credibility is usually supplied in the form of a report which often contains financial and personal information about individuals and once the culprit of identity theft obtains such credit report, the ways to access victims bank and credit card account is present. The automation process in credit card and banking transactions have paved a greater way for identity theft to occur.