87% of Identity Theft Involves a Passport or ID Card

By: Natascha Trivisas

Identity Theft Is Everywhere, All the Time, and It Costs Governments, Businesses and Individuals Trillions Every Year?

It’s damaging, pervasive and expanding. Identity theft — the stealing of a person’s identity details to commit a crime — underpins a growing global criminal enterprise that’s?projected to cost victims $9.5 trillion per year by the end of 2024. More disturbingly,?almost 90% of identity thefts involve a stolen, cloned or copied passport or ID card.

Many of these crimes target governments and businesses, but most identity theft strikes individuals, typically robbing them of their life savings, their major assets, their personal security, their job and sometimes their mental health. With the ability to strike anytime, anywhere and support a vast range of criminal activities, identity fraud is often known as the “mother of all crimes,” and it is one of the largest law enforcement challenges facing governments today.

Identity Theft Is the Common Gateway to a Host of Different Crimes:

• Using fake identity documents to impersonate the victim and gain access to their cash, assets and personal data
• Supporting the creation of false accounts, fake businesses and shell companies to rob businesses and individuals as well as hide from law enforcement
• Selling fake or stolen assets, laundering money and funding corrupt enterprises
• Acting as a conduit to steal valuable corporate information
• Penetrating sensitive government systems to steal and compromise data?
• Underpinning the worldwide trade in illegal drugs
• Supporting the trafficking of humans across the globe
• Helping terrorists to secure weapons and strike unsuspecting targets

Defeating Identity Document Fraud Starts by Designing Stronger, Safer Identity Documents

Almost nine out of ten cases of identity fraud involve a passport or identity card. Altered, forged and counterfeit documents allow criminals to blend in, cross borders and penetrate secure networks. But it doesn’t have to be like that. The fact is, identity fraud becomes easier for the criminals when the security features of identity documents are insufficient, out of date or incorrectly utilized.?

Criminals adapt quickly, seeking weaknesses in document security and exploiting all the gaps and loopholes they can find or create. The only way to defeat their intentions is to stay one step ahead. This means identity documents must employ the newest security features, adapt a layered security approach and embed security into the heart of every document’s design. It also means that redeploying old and obsolete technology and security features when the templates for a country’s passports and identity cards are renewed — typically every ten years — is not enough to defeat the forgers and counterfeiters. Reusing out of date security technology can give criminals open access to an individual’s identity.

HID — The Award-Winning Leader in Identity Document Design and Security

HID Citizen Identity sets the gold standard in identity document design and security. Passports, identity cards, driving licenses and all types of official government documentation made better, made stronger and made more secure through the power of award-winning design:?

• 2024 Red Dot Design Award winner — ePassport, Kingdom of Bahrain
• 2024 IF Design Award winner — ePassport, Kingdom of Bahrain
• 2023 London Design Award winner – Best ePassport, Kingdom of Bahrain
• 2021 High Security Printing Award winner — Best ePassport, Estonia
• 2020 High Security Printing Award winner — Best ePassport, Malta
• 2019 High Security Printing Award winner — Best ePassport, Tanzania