In November 2007, the Federal Trade Commission released a survey showing that 8.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2005. Though not as common on college campuses, identity theft is clearly a serious crime. There are a variety of levels of technology and practices involved in stealing an identity, and methods of catching criminals of this nature are also varied in technology.
According to Robert D'Ovidio, an assistant professor of culture and communication at Drexel, there are a variety of measures students can take to protect themselves against identity theft crimes. The first step in the case of such a crime is to notify local security at Drexel, according to D'Ovidio.
Identity theft crimes are classified in two categories, "simple," and "complex," being as simple as opening someone's mailbox, to using special software to steal personal information, Murugan Anandarajan, a Drexel Management Information Systems professor, said.
