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The purpose of this paper is to present and explain the identity theft cycle. The identity theft cycle explains how a perpetrator goes through various stages of confidence and experimentation when stealing an individual's identity.

The paper takes a conceptual approach by first describing identity theft in detail and then discussing the seriousness of identity theft for consumers today. The paper then presents and explains the identity theft cycle in greater detail including the stages of discovery, action, and trial.

The paper provides evidence to suggest that if identity theft is detected early, consumers can protect themselves from the vast and difficult consequences of identity theft.

This paper fulfills an important area of research by providing basic information about the nature of identity theft. This paper also discusses the various ways that perpetrators steal consumers' information, as well as teaches consumers how to proactively protect themselves from identity theft.

This paper aims to examine factors that influence the decision to report by victims of identity theft victimization. The study of victim decision-making is not new within the field of criminology; however, a majority of the research has focused on decision-making surrounding victims of intimate partner violence and other violent offenses. With the increase of identity theft, knowledge on how a growth in such a crime influences victims is of great concern.

Guided by Donald Black’s theory of the behavior of law, this study will use the 2012 Identity Theft Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey to identify factors that influence whether victims of identity theft report the crime to credit agencies and/or authorities.

This study finds that measures that influence reporting behaviors differ based on the method of reporting (i.e. reporting to a credit card company, law enforcement or a credit bureau). These findings provide little support for Black’s theory of law, but have several theoretical and policy implications.

This study provides a partial test of Black’s theory of law, as it applies to identity theft victims. While providing little support for the theory, the findings identify many areas that agencies and researchers can use to help further inform their studies and practices.

Familiar identity theft, which occurs when an individual known to a victim steals his/her identity, is a common problem in the USA. The purpose of this study was to understand familiar identity theft victims’ reporting behaviors using Black's (1976) theory of law as a conceptual framework.

Data were obtained from the 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 administrations of the National Crime Victimization Survey – Identity Theft Supplement. A series of cross-tabulations were conducted to examine the relationship between reporting behaviors and age, minority, gender, income, marital status and education. Fisher’s exact test was used to interpret the findings.

Key findings include older familiar identity theft victims who personally lost greater sums of money because of identity theft victimization were more likely to report to law enforcement than younger familiar identity theft victims who personally lost less money. Married familiar identity theft victims were less likely to report to law enforcement than those who were not married.

This study extends the work of Golladay (2017) to explore the reporting behaviors of a population of identity theft victims that have been largely overlooked in empirical literature.

Identity theft is an emerging form of criminal behavior, with complaints about the behavior rising. However, little research has explored the correlates of these complaints, especially state‐level correlates. The purpose of this paper is to examine the state‐level characteristics correlated with identity theft complaints.

The present study uses data collected from the 2000 US census and the Federal Trade Commission's 2002 through 2005 reports on identity theft. Regression is used to determine explain identity theft complaints through state‐level characteristics from social disorganization to routine activities theory.

The results indicate that states with more males, higher residential mobility, and more entertainment establishments are likely to have more identity theft complaints. States with more populations that are age 15 and below are less likely to have as many identity theft complaints.

The present study only examines state‐level, macro data and does not take into account individual, micro‐level factors that are associated with identity‐theft. This study provides an important advance in understanding identity theft complaint reports. This will aid policy makers in implementing strategies to reduce incidences of identity theft.

This paper is valuable to sociologists, criminologists, politicians, policy makers, and the general public. It contributes to the current understanding of identity theft by examining state‐level correlates.

This paper aims to examine demographic differences between individuals who do not take measures to protect themselves from identity theft victimization and those who do. A majority of the research on identity theft has focused on predictors of victimization, reporting behaviors of the victims and their health and mental outcomes. However, little remains known about the individuals who choose to take any identity-theft measures despite concerns over this fast-growing breed of crime.

Guided by Felson and Cohen’s routine activities theoretical framework (1979), this study uses the 2014 Identity Theft Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey to identify the demographic characteristics that influence the use of self-protection measures among individuals in the general population.

This study finds that these individuals are much more likely to be white, older, female and highly educated. The decision to undertake protection against identity theft is also influenced by the following factors: prior experience of misuse, possession of a bank account in the prior 12 months, current possession of at least one credit card and awareness that one is entitled to a free copy of one’s credit report.

This study addresses the gap in scholarship on identity theft prevention by applying the concept of guardianship in Cohen and Felson’s routine activity theory (1979) to the usage of self-protection measures in a general population. Future findings will identify the areas which agencies and researchers can focus on to inform policies that foster individuals’ own initiatives to take self-protection measures against potential identity theft.

This paper aims to increase the understanding of the types of insider financial frauds that occur within small businesses by focusing on a sample of businesses that have not employed a certified fraud examiner (CFE) in response to employee theft.

The survey data analyzed come from 102 small businesses (100 employees or fewer) in a midsized Midwestern city in the USA, and reflect 125 reported employee thefts.

The study results indicate that small businesses that do not hire a CFE report certain thefts with greater and lower frequencies as compared to small businesses that do hire a CFE. For particular types of frauds, CFEs may be no more useful than the efforts of business owners or managers, and other employees.

There may be important organizational differences between businesses that hire CFEs and those that do not, differences related to the ways in which business finances are maintained, the ways in which specific controls are used and the ability of employees to access business resources. These factors may create business-based opportunity structures that make particular types of insider financial frauds more or less likely to occur within a particular business.

Existing research on insider financial frauds may not appropriately account for small businesses that cannot afford, or are unwilling, to hire a CFE. The findings discussed in this paper contribute to a more complete picture of the types of frauds that small businesses experience, as well as how these businesses deal with insider theft.

Some say that art theft is only a little younger than art itself. Art theft was surely known in ancient times. A recent reminder of this truth is the discovery in Egypt's Valley of the Kings of many chambers at the tomb of the sons of Ramses II. Earlier archaeologists had not gone beyond the first chambers which were ransacked in antiquity. We know that theft is older than the Ten Commandments. It is also true that decrying or prohibiting theft and art theft docs not help enough, and that it is always with us.

This paper aims to study the concept of identity fraud and how these identity thefts can actually lead to financial crime. These crimes which usually were done in the traditional way now have taken leaps with the increase in the use of cyber world.

Several research papers, articles and newsfeeds were referred to study the concept, growth, scope, effect and impact of identity theft. It was also found that identity theft is the most common type of cybercrimes.

Identity theft though a simple crime but if not taken care of can lead to multiple crimes which can affect not only individuals but also companies. And when these crimes impact companies, they can actually hamper the economy as a whole.

Information for the same is not available very easily, so the study is solely based on secondary data.

Identity theft effects an individual not only financially but also mentally and socially; thus, these effect each and every one in the said economy.

This paper is an original work of the authors, and it is for the use of students, educators and academicians.

Lack of individual awareness of knowledge sharing practices to prevent identity theft is a significant issue for online retail organisations (OROs). Agile learning processes and sharing of knowledge is essential, but the lack of relevant training inhibits these processes within the online industry. This study aims to identify the inhibiting factors in agile learning and knowledge sharing process with recommendations for best practice for organisations and staff to effectively share knowledge on identity theft prevention.

Three qualitative case studies were undertaken in OROs in the UK. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, internal documents and related external material. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis method.

The findings identified that individual staff members within OROs from the information security and fraud prevention departments often share their knowledge as a community. However, there is no formal knowledge sharing process or any related training facilitating this exchange. There is a need for agile learning environment in OROs of the UK.

The study offers both theoretical and practical contributions to the extant literature of agile learning of knowledge sharing to prevent identity theft in OROs. Existing learning opportunities are not being used to enhance the knowledge of individuals, and OROs need to increase the skills and trust of their staff to share knowledge efficiently. This study identifies the systemic weaknesses inherent in the process of knowledge sharing and existing training provision within OROs. It provides ORO managers with practical guidelines in facilitating trust between individuals and developing appropriate training systems to educate staff on sharing organisational knowledge. This study contributes by extending the knowledge sharing framework proposed by Chong et al. (2011) for enhanced individual knowledge sharing processes to prevent identity theft within OROs. It also identifies OROs’ weaknesses in knowledge sharing learning processes for theft prevention and offers prevention guidelines and recommendations for developing effective agile learning environments.

In a field study, we build on previous research examining employee theft, which has focused on the influence of job dissatisfaction and pay inequity (distributive injustice). In a survey of employees at 18 fast food restaurants, where employee theft was a problem, we examine the relationship between employee‐observed theft and justice perceptions (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice), employees' job satisfaction, and judgments regarding the deviancy of theft. As expected, perceptions of procedural justice and employees' judgments regarding the deviancy of theft explained a significant amount of variance in employee‐observed theft; the other predictor variables did not. Theoretical and practical implications for managing employee theft are discussed.