What is Identity Theft Identity-based crimes are considered one of the most significant and growing problems of the last 20 years due to the significant economic damage that these crimes entail for the victims (Holt & Turner, 2012). Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personally identifiable information. This can be attributed to weaknesses in the structure in which personal information flows in society (White, 2005). This information may consist of the person's Social Security number, name, address, or driver's license number. One of the old ways to obtain this information was to browse the victim's email or pretend to be a telemarketer to obtain personal information. With the advancement of technology, criminals have also improved the ways they steal your information. One of the improvements is the “swiper”. This technique works by creating a copy of the person's credit card information when they present it to purchase something. The next step is to transfer the information to a fake credit card for the criminals' personal use. Thanks to the Internet, criminals can also remotely access your computer and information, all from the comfort of your own home or from anywhere in the world. Once he has this information, the thief can use it to buy himself some nice things, all paid for by you, while ruining your credit. Identity Theft Crimes and Statistics The average number of identity theft victims in the United States each year is 11,571,900 and the total financial loss attributed to identity theft in 2013 is $21 billion (Identity Theft/Fraud Statistics identity, 2013). discriminate based on age, race, or income. Anyone can be affected by identity theft. The age group most vulnerable to this crime is 18 to 24 years old; followed by the age group between 35 and 49 years. The most reported cases of identity theft involve financial motivations (Perl, 2003). Identity theft falls into three categories: financial identity theft, non-financial identity theft, and criminal record identity theft. Financial identity theft is the category our article will focus on. Nonfinancial identity theft involves telecommunications and utility fraud or using the victim's information to obtain government documents. This can be used to enter the country illegally or plan and carry out terrorist attacks. Criminal record impersonation is basically where the criminal uses an innocent person's clean criminal record, meaning the person has no criminal record, to avoid being arrested.