Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Define identity theft. Is it something illegal?
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In the U.S., yes, it's illegal, I'm pretty sure it would be in most other places.
Basically it's a form of fraud: person A gathers enough information about person B to convince third parties that person A
is person B, and then runs up debts in person B's name, which person A doesn't pay but rather leaves for person B to bear the consequences of.
In practice it usually involves getting credit cards in someone else's name and buying stuff with them, but it might also include gaining access to bank accounts and emptying them and such like that.
It's probably not all that good a parsing to the current discussion, because it's not the "stealing" of the "identity" that's the problem, but rather
using that assumed identity for illicit financial gain. But then again,
all analogies break down at some point.
