What is the fitting punishment for someone who commits identity theft?
The thought of someone sitting behind bars because they pretended to be me and spent my money seems counterproductive and inefficient.
The cost of arresting, prosecuting, sentencing, jailing and guarding someone who stole hundreds of dollars is disproportionate to the crime. Would prosecution and incarceration make more sense if the thief stole thousands of dollars? Millions?
It’s an interesting legal and ethical exercise to ponder but one I’m resentful of entertaining because of the way it has presented itself.
As you might have guessed, someone recently got a hold of my credit card number and made about $500 in purchases at stores called Aldo and Zara. As best as I can tell those are women’s shoe and clothing retailers, businesses I’ve never heard of nor imagined visiting in person or online.
The latest incident comes about two years after someone had used a different credit card to go on unauthorized spending sprees at liquor stores on my dime.
In each instance my credit card never left my wallet, meaning somehow someone somewhere had captured my information after I had made legitimate purchases elsewhere.
There were instances where I spent a good 10 or 15 minutes a day wondering, “Did I drive up to Redlands and buy liquor there and not remember? Did I give my card to someone?” Even now I rack my brain wondering, “Did I go online shopping in my sleep? Was there a pair of shoes and a handbag I just had to have and forgot I made the purchase?”
Am I losing my mind?
The answers, incidentally, are no, no, no, no and maybe, but not enough to throw money around without my remembering.
I realize that, relatively speaking, hundreds of dollars is not a lot of money. One report indicates there were 13.1 million victims of fraud and $15 billion in fraudulent charges during the last six years. Undoubtedly there are people who have had thousands or tens of thousands of dollars pilfered from their bank accounts or in fake credit card expenditures.
Nevertheless, the absence of a few hundred dollars hurts some people, me included, the way the absence of thousands hurts others.
In all likelihood my bank will cover my losses and they’ll pursue recapturing their money by working in conjunction with police and investigators to find the thief or thieves. I don’t know if they will succeed. Or if authorities or regulators will ever make a significant dent in preventing online fraud. Cybercrime benefits from anonymity
In the meantime I’m left wondering what’s the best way of punishing an ID thief? Maybe forcing them to be me for a time — possibly when I’m watching a city council meeting or reading a budget report — would work. Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment?
