Identity Theft of Another Form

Cyber Bullying often involves an all too common problem: a much easier form of identity theft.

Transcript

This is Leo Notenboom for askleo.info.

One of the frighteningly common class of questions I get comes from
individuals, usually teens, who’ve become the victims of various forms of cyber
bullying.

The situations boil down to two common scenarios:

The first scenario is one that probably won’t surprise you – someone creates
an anonymous email or IM account, and then uses that account to send
inflammatory, threatening, hateful or otherwise offensive messages to the
victim. Unfortunately it’s often impossible to figure out who’s sending these
messages unless they make a mistake, or unless law enforcement has the time to
get involved.

The second scenario is a lot more common than people think. Someone steals
the victim’s email or IM password, or somehow takes over their account. The
harasser then proceeds to send harassing messages to the victims friends and
family, impersonating the victim. The victim must then attempt to repair the
damage, which can vary from easy to impossible, depending on the relationships
involved.

We often think of identity theft as something that happens to people who
have assets or credit cards and other things of monetary value. And certainly
not something that happens to kids.

In reality, this form of identity impersonation for the purposes of on-line
harassment seems to be frighteningly common. And it’s much, much easier. A
mistakenly shared or easily guessed password can open the door to many forms of
abuse.

Even with the statements plastered over my site that indicate I can’t get
your account or password back, I still get several questions that boil down to
that each week. I can only guess at how many there are in reality that don’t
ask because they see I can’t help.

The solution’s not easy.

One part of me wants to caution parents to do a better job of teaching
personal responsibility to their children, and to listen with an open mind if a
child – yes, your child – is accused of bullying.

On the other hand, I also (vaguely) remember what it’s like to be that age.
I was bullied as a teen and pre-teen. Kids haven’t changed, but the tools they
have available most certainly have. In many ways we’re giving kids incredibly
powerful tools in the form of the internet, email, IM, text messaging and cell
phones, way before they’re mature enough to understand the ramifications of
their actions.

And those tools aren’t going away any time soon.

The only advice I have is for parents to be watchful – your child may be a
victim, or a perpetrator. And for all, parents, teachers and kids alike, to
take these matters seriously. Kids, teens, and even adults, are being hurt and
scarred every day.

I’d love to hear what you think. Visit askleo.info and enter 11157 in the go
to article number box and leave me a comment. While you’re there, search over
1,000 technical questions and answers on the site.

Till next time, I’m Leo Notenboom, for askleo.info.