Noun

Singular identity theft

Plural identity thefts

identity theft (plural identity thefts)

1. The deliberate assumption of another person's identity, usually to gain access to that person's finances or to frame a person for a crime.

Identity theft is a term used that is to refer to fraud that involves someone pretending to be someone else in order to steal money or get other benefits. The term dates to 1964 and is actually a misnomer, since it is not inherently possible to steal an identity, only to use it. The person whose identity is used can suffer various consequences when he or she is held responsible for the perpetrator's actions. In many countries specific laws make it a crime to use another person's identity for personal gain.

Identity theft is somewhat different from identity fraud. However, the terms are often used interchangeably. Identity fraud is the result of identity theft. Someone can steal or appropriate someone's identifying information without actually committing identity fraud. The best example of this is when a data breach occurs. There has been very little evidence to link ID fraud to data breaches. A Government Accountability Office study determined that "most breaches have not resulted in detected incidents of identity theft". However the title of that report is "Data Breaches Are Frequent, but Evidence of Resulting Identity Theft Is Limited; However, the Full Extent Is Unknown". A later study by Carnegie Mellon University concluded that "the probability of becoming a victim to identity theft as a result of a data breach is ...around only 2%". More recently, one of the largest data breaches ever, accounting for over four million records, resulted in only about 1800 instances of identity theft, according to the company whose systems were breached. However, synthetic ID theft is not always detectable by the consumers whose information was used, according to an FTC report.