"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:t9uCb.328993$Dw6.1107274@attbi_s02...
[...] I just have to wonder
if this whole "identity theft" thing isn't a product of Madison Avenue,
once
again trying to fan the flames of our own paranoia, in an effort to sell
us
something?

Does anyone know a real person who has suffered this fate?

Are you suggesting identity theft is not an issue at all? It certainly is a
very real crime, and it is happening more and more. It comes in a variety
of manifestations and, in answer to your question, I do personally know of a
real person (more than one, actually) who was a victim of identity theft.

Are you asking what the prevalence of identity theft is, and/or arguing that
the credit card companies are playing up the incidence? The answer to the
former is hard to quantify, since many different forms of fraud and other
crimes can be considered identity theft, and because there's no well-defined
reporting mechanism. One FTC-sponsored survey suggests that there may be as
many as 10 million Americans each year affected by identity theft, and that
as many as a third of those involved the use of their personal information
in the commission of a fraud:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/09/synovatereport.pdf

I *do* think it's funny that you would suggest that the advertising
community would be playing *up* the threat. Credit card companies have been
notoriously reticent to release figures regarding consumer fraud, including
identity theft, out of a concern that people will start thinking that credit
cards are unreliable. The thought that identity theft is simply an
invention created to sell more product is laughable. Yes, a new business
arena has been discovered, and yes several companies have jumped on that
bandwagon. But they are no worse than the burglar alarm companies who use
scare tactics to frighten you into buying their products. The crime is
real.

Pete