Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic [Hardcover]

Bob Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0471648108 | ISBN-13: 978-0471648109 | Edition: 1

The crime of the twenty-first century doesn't discriminate: ID theft has hit ordinary citizens and celebrities alike, from Oprah Winfrey to Steven Spielberg, and costs the economy $50 billion a year. Your Evil Twin covers this exploding crime from every possible angle. It includes exclusive whodunit details from mastermind identity thieves who have pilfered money from half the members of the Forbes 400, as well as exclusive interviews with a myriad of criminals in the Internet's underground, such as Russian hackers who have extorted money from U.S. banks. The book also issues a scathing indictment of the credit granting industry, from credit card issuers to the secretive credit reporting agencies, who have misunderstood the crime from the start, have been slow to respond, and bear much of the responsibility for the epidemic. Finally, Bob Sullivan, author and identity theft expert, probes the tepid solutions now being cobbled together by the industry and government.
Bob Sullivan (Snohomish, WA), senior technology writer for MSNBC.com, is the nation's leading journalist covering identity fraud. He has written more than 100 articles on the subject since 1996, and is a regular contributor to MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, the Today show, and various local NBC affiliates. With colleague Mike Brunker, Sullivan received the prestigious 2002 Society of Professional Journalists Public Service Award for ongoing coverage of Internet fraud.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Identity theft is the fastest-growing white-collar crime in America. It strikes ordinary citizens and celebrities alike. This crime of the twenty-first century is profitable, nearly unpreventable, and hardly ever prosecuted. Some estimates say that nearly ten million Americans each year become victims–and the crime shows no sign of letting up.

Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic covers this exploding crime from every possible angle. Filled with real-world identity theft horror stories (from both the criminal’s and victim’s perspective) as well as practical advice that can help you protect yourself, this book examines the institutions, industries, and individuals that have allowed identity theft to spread, and probes the tepid solutions now being cobbled together by the industry and government to curb this crime.

Author and identity theft expert Bob Sullivan agrees that criminals should, without a doubt, be blamed for this crisis, but he also notes that so should those entrusted with our identities. Sullivan digs deep to reveal how institutions designed to protect our identities have let us down, while corporate America–in choosing profits over privacy–has shirked much of its responsibility for the problem.

You’ll receive an up-close look at some of the most troubling issues associated with the identity theft epidemic, including:

• How criminal, domestic, child, and elder identity theft is perpetrated
• Why government agencies have been so slow to react to this problem and how our nation’s identification systems–birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and Social Security cards–are so easily duped
• How credit card companies who, in their rush to push the "miracle of instant credit," have created some of the systematic flaws that allow identity theft to be profitable in the first place
• Why law enforcement officers often refuse to take reports of these types of crime or prosecute criminals
• How the Internet and new technology has made identity theft easier for both criminals and terrorists

But there are solutions to the identity theft problem and this book examines some of them–from individual heroic efforts being made privately to public companies whose forward-looking projects may stem the epidemic.

Identity theft is much more than a paperwork headache for victims. The crime has been blamed for everything from divorce to suicide to murder. It threatens happy retirements as well as college student loans. In its very worst form, it can even land innocent people in jail. Your Evil Twin will show you why identity theft has become so common and help you prevent or prepare for the day someone tries to steal your good name.

From the Back Cover

"Your Evil Twin is an unsettling look into a dark corner of the Information Age. It will make you want to put a lock and key on your wallet. Then you’ll realize that’s not enough."
–Robert O’Harrow Jr., staff writer, Washington Post

"This book will make you want to cancel your credit cards–immediately! Sullivan weaves together compelling stories of fraudsters and their victims with thoughtful insights into how public and private systems routinely fail to protect our privacy."
–Rachel Ross, technology reporter, Toronto Star

"Identity theft is one of those crimes people don’t think about until they get hit, and then it’s too late. Bob Sullivan uses potent storytelling, goes easy on the technobaloney, and points readers toward vital precautions and prevention."
–Beau Brendler, consumer investigative editor and former editorial director, ABC News.com

"The Internet is the best thing that’s ever happened to con artists. They can rob you blind or steal your identity before you suspect anything is wrong. Bob Sullivan is always looking to expose new scams–to warn readers about them and how they can protect themselves. For years, his investigative reporting has led the way in this area. Bob doesn’t try to sound like a tech writer. His writing is easy to read and simple to understand."
–Herb Weisbaum, a Today show consumer specialist

"Perhaps no one in America is more intimately acquainted with the frightening face of the global identity-theft epidemic than Bob Sullivan. Years of conversations with the victims, the thieves, and their pursuers in law enforcement have given him an unrivalled view of a spiraling problem–and an ability to tell a tale that is just as readable and fascinating as it is maddening and horrifying."
–Emory Thomas, former Wall Street Journal reporter and editor, MSN Money

"Only an investigative reporter like Bob Sullivan could reveal the full depth of this creepy phenomenon. His book reads like an exciting detective story, but this surreal and frightening problem is bigger than most people realize. This book is going to open people’s eyes to a problem that has become even more dangerous given the rise in international terrorism. In short, this book is a wake-up call–and a call to action–for the leaders of government and business, especially the credit-card industry."
–Jon Sorensen, New York State Consumer Protection Board

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471648108
• ISBN-13: 978-0471648109
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bob Sullivan covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com. He is the winner of multiple journalism awards for his coverage of online crime and author of Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day and What You Can Do About It. and Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic.
He is the winner of numerous journalism awards, including the 2002 Society of Professional Journalists Public Service award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This could have been so much better, November 11, 2004

By 

K. G Havemann "ARabidReader" (Dayton, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic (Hardcover)

To begin with, I was terribly distracted by all the typographical/spelling and editing errors that ran rampant in this book. Why would anyone put a book out for sale that hasn't been proofread?

But most of all, this book covers an extremely important subject, one of potential interest to just about everyone, and yet it was so shallow. I have been better informed about identity theft, what it is, what is being done about it, and what we can do if we are targeted as victims in local newspapers and in magazine articles. There was no discussion of many very common methods of identity theft, including observation of victims as they enter their ATM or telephone pin numbers and codes, inadvertantly leaving passwords and usernames on public computers, giving credit card numbers to untrustworthy websites, using credit cards in untrustworthy restaurants and stores, writing passwords in places others can easily access, being victimized by phishing schemes, etc. Each of these and many more are methods of identity theft easily avoided yet this book doesn't mention them.

Even the anecdotes left me hanging for more detail, more of what happened and why. Instead, they rambled on disconnectedly and often had no beginnings nor conclusions. The organization of the book was sub-par, which accounted for much unnecessary repetition of minor details. This book simply screams for a better editor.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humanizing Identity Theft, September 6, 2005

By 

Christopher Byrne "The Business Controls Caddy" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic (Hardcover)

Much has been written about identity theft, and what people have to go through to clear their credit reports. But what I had never given much thought to is that identity theft goes much beyond stealing identities for financial gain. In fact, what is much more difficult to deal with is when your identity is stolen and used by criminals in general. Try to clear a supposed criminal record. And if you are in the United States, try to do that if you are black or Hispanic. That is just part of the excellent discussions you will find in Bob Sullivan's Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic (August 2004, John Wiley & Sons, 314 Pages, ISBN 0471648108).

A journalist by training, Sullivan presents an easy to read, if unsettling, narrative talking about different aspects of identity theft that do not often get discussed. Some of the material is material found in magazines and other journals, but the strength of this book is that it beings many different pieces into one place. Sullivan starts out by showing that no one is immune to identity theft, whether it be a CEO or even Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. He goes into some detail explaining who was taken advantage of and how, though he does not offer solutions for the problems.

But this does not mean he is afraid to take on the real villains in identity theft, the credit card companies and retailers who push easy credit every chance they get. Sullivan makes the excellent point that the availability of easy credit is actually better for the bad guys than those who do the right thing. He also does not shy away from calling out the credit reporting agencies and their role in this problem. Why should they be charging people for "Credit report watches", when they helped create the problem? It was fascinating from a historical perspective to read how the three major credit reporting companies came to be. It is a heck of a trivia question to ask how a railroad fits into the scheme of things.

You will, or at least should, find yourself challenged by the reality that the race factor plays in how victims are treated. Like it or not, we live in two Americas as clearly shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Discussions of this topic in the book really offer a time for reflection and thought in the area of identity theft.

One should not expect this book to answer every possible question about identity theft, but should be considered as part of a larger library on data privacy and identity theft. It provides a human perspective that other titles on the subject often lack.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book, while not a "must read" would be of interest to people who want to explore more of the human side of identity theft and would like some additional historical/political perspective.

The Scorecard

Birdie on an average Par 4

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Like a good mystery book, but real, September 17, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic (Hardcover)

This book is all about a problem that simply didn't exist only a few years ago. Now it's become the fastest growing white collar crime in America. It strikes in every community from the smallest to the largest. The crime is profitable, nearly unpreventable, and hardly ever prosecuted (by one estimate only one out of every 700 incidents). It's the down side of the information super highway. Getting a bit of information about a person is easy, and then you can get a bit more. Soon you can buy a car in his name, get credit cards in his name, like the TV commercial, you're on the beach, your credit cards are in the airplane flying by.

The book says, rightfully I believe, that you are basically on your own. The police don't seem to care, the credit card companies write off the loss and go on about their business. Just don't you try to ever use your credit again.

The author is a leading expert on the subject, as well as being a senior writer at MSNBC. He knows how to write and he knows his subject, what more can you ask.