Identity+Theft

Identity Theft By: Lisa Coffman and Ashley Dickerson


 * Description: **

Identity theft is a crime in which an imposter gains key pieces of personal information, such as Social Security or driver's license numbers. They use the information to impersonate the person and to pretend to be them. The information can be used to obtain credit, merchandise, and services in the name of the victim, or to provide the thief with false identification. In addition to running up debt, an imposter might provide false identification to police, creating a criminal record or leaving arrest warrants for the person whose identity has been stolen. There are two different types of Identity Theft: true name and account takeover. True name identity theft means that the thief uses personal information to open new accounts. The thief might open a new credit card account, establish cellular phone service, or open a new checking account in order to obtain blank checks. Account takeover identity theft means the impostor uses personal information to gain access to the person's existing accounts. Typically, the thief will change the mailing address on an account and run up a huge bill before the person whose identity has been stolen realizes there is a problem. This has become a more common problem in today’s society. There are many ways that identity theft has become more common. The Internet it one way that it is now it easier for an identity thief to use the information they've stolen because transactions can be made without any personal interaction. Identity theft happens constantly, it is important to be aware of who has your personal information and to keep your personal information safe and secure.

Identify theft is a very important issue. Anyone can be a victim of it if they are not cautious and take the necessary precautions. One way this can impact a school, is that schools have a lot of very valuable and private information of their students. It is vital that eh school keep secure and safe records so that their students’ information is not leaked, spread, or someone can gather it. This is the school responsibility to keep the students records safe. Identify theft can happen in many different ways, through doctor records, school records, social security numbers, drivers licensees, and many different ways. Now with computers and technology it is more common and allot easier for identify theft to take place. This makes it more challenging, but we need to be aware of what information we have out and about and have to monitor what people know. It is our own responsibility to be aware and keep our information safe.
 * What is the impact of this issue on K-12 schools, educators, and students?**

A very basic way of incorporating this into daily instruction is to make sure that the students are putting their names on their papers, and using materials that have their names on them. It is in no way as serious as real identity theft, but in younger grades it will make an impact.
 * Integrating this topic into Daily Instruction:**

__**Pre**__ At this grade level and age, I would just talk about how it is wrong to take things that belong to other people. You can't take something that doesn't belong to you. You have to have permission and ask first. __**1-3**__ You can introduce the fact that taking other people things has consequences....you will be punished if you take other people things. You have to ask and have permission. __**3-7**__ The students would start out listing all of their prized possessions and then the teacher would bring up, what if someone took all of them, and pretended that they were theirs? The students could write a response to how that would make them feel and then the teacher would go into how identity theft is when everything about a person is taken, and someone pretends to live their life. The students could brainstorm how they think they could prevent this from happening.

__**7-9**__ Have a police officer come in and talk to the students about what the negative consequences are for stealing someone’s identity, and also what to do if your identity is the one that is stolen. 9-12 Have the students divide into groups and have them develop a presentation of how to prevent identity theft, and what the steps are that need to be taken if your identity is stolen. These presentations, if media, may be able to be displayed on the announcements or if posters, could be displayed around the school.

[] -- for older students, high school mostly, this article relates to them. The person in the article had his identity stolen at age 7 and had horrible credit at age 19 because of it. Students just need to be aware that it can happen, and they may not find out until years later!
 * Additional Links:**

[] -- this website would also be for the upper grades and it helps them realize that teenagers are prime targets, and they know to be more cautious now.

[] this link has information about identify theft as well as other computer security issues. This website gives an overview about the topic, but it also has games and videos that would be fun for the students. this website would appeal to older elementary students and definitely middle school students. This is a fun and interactive way to learn about important issues, but in a less serious way.

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 * References:**