Identity theft: fact, fiction, and the funny papers

Last week I wrote about the RIAA and its comic foray into warping the brains of our nation’s youth via a “graphic novel” about the evils of Internet Piracy. The source of the comic book was the National Center for the State Courts, a 37-year-old nonprofit org that gets a big chunk of its funding from state and federal agencies. 

After speaking with NCSC’s Lorri Montgomery, I no longer believe the NCSC is in cahoots with the RIAA — at least, not directly. Montgomery was even kind enough to send me the next installment in the Justice Case Files comic series, titled “The Case of Stolen Identity.” After reading the second Case File I do believe that the NCSC — or the folks they hire to consult on and write these things — spend a lot of time on Planet Clueless.

In “The Case of Stolen Identity,” the Garcia family is busy managing a litter of adorable puppies when Maria Garcia foolishly clicks on a phishing email and plugs her account information into a bogus Web site. Next thing they know, the Garcia’s bank account has been drained and Maria feels like a tool. So far, so good. The comic actually does a good job of clearly explaining how phishing emails work. But then it takes a turn toward fantasy land.

First the Garcias go to the bank manager, who’s extremely understanding and assures them that victims of identity theft are fully protected and they won’t lose a dime. (In fact, average out-of-pocket costs for victims are now nearly $700, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.) The kindly bank manager tells them a fraud alert will be placed on their account — like that’s going to protect them from now on. (A fraud alert only requires that someone proves they’re you before they open a new account in your name; it doesn’t do squat to protect existing accounts that have been compromised.)

Then they go to the cops, who jump on the case and immediately locate the bad guy. To wit:

“Because Mrs. Garcia kept the message, we’ve been able to trace the electronic signature on the e-mail to his Internet Service Provider. And get this — the provider is only six blocks away from the police station!”

Thank god for those electronic signatures. Where would we be without them?

So they trot on over to the friendly ISP with a subpoena. Presto, they find their man. Says the police investigator:

“The suspect is a professional website designer. He fits the profile of someone who could easily create a spoof site of the bank.”

Those sneaky Web designers — they’re simply not to be trusted.

Now for a little reality check. Identity theft is one of those low-priority crimes that almost never gets much attention from the cops. About 1 in 700 ID thieves are caught and prosecuted, according to Gartner. I’ve talked to easily a dozen ID theft victims; they spend most of their time trying to convince the bank and the police that they weren’t in on the crime.

Phishing scams are run by organized criminals, not the guy down the street who designs web sites for a living. They use botnets to deliver the phishing spam and to host the bogus Web sites. They’re often located halfway across the globe. In fact, most ID theft happens the old fashioned way — somebody steals your wallet or a letter from your mailbox containing your name and Social Security Number. So this scenario is pure hokum.

OK, it’s a comic book. The Hardy Boys Mysteries weren’t known for their gritty realism either. And it’s mostly designed to show how the legal system works (at least, how it works on TV). But the NCSC could have provided some useful information about what the Garcias should do when their identity is stolen. Instead, as with the music piracy comic, it spreads misconceptions. The net effect is to scare clueless people away from the Internet instead of teaching them how to use it intelligently.

My favorite part of the comic is the last panel. Justice has been served, the Garcias have recovered their fiscal health, and the puppies are still adorable. Megan — the dimwitted star of the “Internet piracy” comic — shows up to claim one of the puppies for her grandma while she’s off in India “studying pharmaceuticals for six months.”

Maybe she meant pharmacology. Or maybe she just plans to spend the next six months in a Oxycontin-induced haze. But that’s still better than swapping music files, right?

If you could commission an instructional comic book, what topic would you choose? Post your comments below or email them to cringe (at) infoworld (dot) com. Top entries will be featured in a future blog post.

Think you’ve got the right stuff to pass our tech quizzes? They’re not as easy as they look:

• The InfoWorld News Quiz

• Test Your Geek IQ

• Test Your Network Security IQ