What Motivates Identity Theft Offenders Concealment is one of the key reasons that drive many criminals to commit identity theft crimes. Hiding previous crimes is a significant reason why people steal or assume false identities. An important example is that of Kathleen, the woman behind numerous city bombings and murders who assumed the identity of Sara Olson, a Scandinavian citizen living in Minnesota. She managed to avoid arrest for over two decades (Ananias et al., 178). During this time she married, became a doctor, gave birth to three children, began working as a community volunteer, volunteered for charities in Africa, and moved to a trendy neighborhood in Minnesota (Lenardon 56). Terrorism has emerged as a significant channel through which identities are stolen to cover criminal activities and to complicate investigations into their authentic identities after they have perpetrated crimes. All the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attack on the United States were protected by identity theft experts in different ways. This contributed to a huge security problem when the victims were innocent American citizens