Why Pay To Be An Identity Thief?
from the stealing-info-is-easy dept
For all the furor over Choicepoint's selling of personal data to some identity thieves, some are pointing out that it doesn't make much sense for such thieves to buy the data when so much is available for free online. A professor has written a program searching out online resumes that often include the person's social security number -- making identity theft simple (and free). Of course, there are other methods of getting people's private info... such as offering to give them a cheap ballpoint pen or some chocolate. Even better, one study showed that people will give you their private info if you just ask for it nicely.
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