So today I was at work talking to a lady from Ohio who was 60ish and our conversation went something like this, "Alright Jill (not her real name ) I just need to verify the last four digits of your social security number to process this order." "I'd rather not" she answered point blank. I was flabbergasted. "Um... ok... well....why." She commenced in telling me a long sad story about how all of her personal information was stolen and had to get new credit cards, bank accounts, and reset all of her passwords. Needless to say she would NOT give me any personal information.Musing on the situating I thought, "Really, who gets their identity stolen?" I can't think of one of my friends who had there info stolen. In fact every single person that I know personally that had their identity stolen is over 50! How is this so? Sure I have a lot less identity to steal being so young but still I feel like I (and my peers) put our information much more at risk by signing up for so many online services.
I'm not sure that I have an answer to this question. Maybe I'm completely wrong in assuming this. If you have an opinion be sure to comment to help me decide if Identity Theft truly is a Geriatric Disease.
I think young people aren't as prone to identity theft because we've grown up so surrounded by internet culture that we can recognize a shady site when we see it. For those who don't have a life-long experience with computers, the degree of trustworthiness might not be as apparent.
ReplyDeleteI agree. When I was living in the dorms, as a learning activity our RA once pretended to need to collect personal information for a third party. She gathered us together and told us what information she needed. Within about one minute, girls started complaining and asking more detailed questions about what the information was needed for. I think our generation has heard so many horror stories from older generations that we are at least reasonably wary.
ReplyDeleteI used to work for a or ate IT company and I can't tell you how many identity theft horror stories I heard over them phone from the elderly. It is something of an plague amongst the elderly less technologically savvy crowd.
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