According to non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center with other sources, Identity theft could be sub-divided in five categories:
- Business/Commercial identity theft (using other’s business name to acquire credit)
- Criminal identity theft (posing as other while apprehended for an offense)
- Financial identity theft (using other’s identity to get hold of goods and services)
- Identity cloning (using other’s information to assume his identity in every day life)
- Medical identity theft (using other’s information to acquire medical care or drugs)
Identity theft might be used to aid crimes comprising unlawful immigration, espionage and terrorism. Identity theft might also be a means of blue mail. There are even the cases of identity cloning to hit payment systems, comprising online credit card processing in addition to medical insurance. Some individuals might impersonate others for non-financial causes – for example, to get praise or notice for the sufferer’s successes. This is from time to time referred to as the identity theft in media.
