Identity theft
Meaning
The use of personal details of another in order to use their identity dishonestly; for example, in order to obtain money, credit etc. fraudulently.
Origin
This term originated in the USA in the 1990s. The first known record of 'identity theft' appears in The Boston Globe, May 1991:
The Social Security Administration in Boston... agrees that identity theft can be quickly stopped. 'If you can document someone else is using your Social Security number, we'll give you a new number.'
There is an earlier record of an 'identity thief', which dates from the 1960s. The Ohio newspaper The Athens Messenger, carried a story headed 'Death Reveals
Identity Thief', on 7th April 1966. This reports a story of a US serviceman who stole the identity of another soldier, apparently in order to enlist fraudulently in the army:
A stranger than fiction
story emerged today about a man who was killed
in Vietnam while serving in the Marine Corps
under the name of an acquaintance. The dead Marine has been identified as William
F. Joyce, 25, of Stoughton, Mass., who was killed in
action at Quan Lai while serving with the 1st Battalion
of the 7th Marines.
But Joyce apparently was known to his comrades
in Company C, not as Joyce, but as "Richard
J. Preskenis," the name under which he enlisted
three years ago. There is a Richard J. Preskenis, who went to
high school in Stoughton, but who now lives in an
adjoining town, Canton. Preskenis, 22, knew Joyce several years ago,
but the men were not close.
Preskenis' name turned up on a casualty list
issued Wednesday by the Defense Department.
The notice was sent to Brockton, where the dead
Marine had listed as his secondary next of kin a
sister, Mrs. Paul Collins. The Marine Corps in Washington says it was
she who told them that the true name of the dead
Marine was Joyce.
Joyce apparently used the name of Preskenis to
enlist in the Marine Corps in April, 1963, because
he had had some trouble with the police, which
might have made him unacceptable.
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