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1、UNIT3Stolen identity1Frank never went to pilot school, medical school, law school, . because hes still in high school. 2That was the strapline（标语） of the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, which tells the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a brilliant young master of deception（欺骗，骗术） who
2、at different times impersonated（扮演，模仿） a doctor, a lawyer, and an airplane pilot, forging（伪造） checks worth more than six million dollars in 26 countries. He became the youngest man to ever make the FBIs most-wanted list for forgery（伪造罪）. Hunted and caught in the film by fictional（虚构的） FBI agent Carl
3、 Hanratty (Tom Hanks), Abagnale later escaped. He eventually became a consultant（顾问） for the FBI where he focused on white-collar（白领） crime. 3Its a great film, but could it happen in real life? In fact, Catch Me If You Can is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, whose career as a fraudster（骗子）
4、 lasted about six years before he was caught, who escaped from custody（羁押） three times (once through an airplane toilet), and who spent a total of six years in prison in France, Sweden and the US. He now runs a consultancy（顾问工作） advising the world of business how to avoid fraud（诈骗）. He has raised en
5、ough money to pay back all his victims, and is now a multi-millionaire. 4Since 2003, identity theft has become increasingly common. Few people could imagine how important things like taking mail to the post office and not leaving it in the mailbox for pickup, shredding（撕碎） documents instead of throw
6、ing them out with the trash, even using a pen costing a couple of bucks（元，复数）, have become to avoid life-changing crimes. 5More and more people are becoming anonymous（匿名的） victims of identity theft. We spend many hours and dollars trying to recover（恢复，弥补） our name, our credit, our money and our live
7、s. We need to look for different ways to protect ourselves. We can improve our chances of avoiding this crime, but it will never go away. 6Its not just a list of dos and donts, we need to change our mindset（心态，习惯）. Although online banking is now commonplace（司空见惯）, theres a significant group of peopl
8、e in the countrythe baby boomers（婴儿一代）, 15 per cent of the populationwho still prefer to use paper. Whats more, 30 per cent of cases of fraud occur within this group. A check has all the information about you that an identity thief needs. If you use a ballpoint pen（圆珠笔）, the ink can be removed with
9、the help of a regular household chemical and the sum of money can be changed. More than 1.2 million bad checks are issued every day, more than 13 per second. 7Check fraud is big business . and growing by 25 per cent every year. Criminals count on（指望，依靠） our mistakes to make their jobs easier. So how
10、 can we prevent identity theft before it happens to us? 8Take a few precautions（预防措施）. Dont leave your mail in your mailbox overnight or over the weekend. Thieves wait for the red flag to go up, so they can look through your outgoing mail for useful personal information or checks. Use a gel pen（签字笔）
11、 for checks and important forms, the ink is trapped in the fibre of the paper, and it cant be removed with chemicals. Also, shred or tear up（撕毁） all documents which contain personal information before you put them in the trash. 9Remember that there are plenty of online opportunities for thieves to c
12、reate a false identity based on your own. Were all aware of the risks to personal information on computer databases by hacking（黑客） and Trojan horses（特洛伊木马）. But choosing someone and doing a Google search can also yield（透露） large amounts of personal information, and so can online social networking si
13、tes such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. And just as we take our pocketbook with us when we leave the office to go to the bathroom, its also worth logging off（退出） your computer to avoid opportunistic（机会主义的） theft. 10Finally, if you get robbed in a more traditional wayin the streetcanceling your credi
14、t cards is obviously the first thing to do. But dont forget that even after theyre reported lost, they can be used as identification to acquire store cards . and you get the criminal record. 11Identity fraud can go on for years without the victims knowledge. There is no escaping the fact that right now fraudsters are finding identity crime all too easy. If you havent had your identity stolen, its only because they havent got to you yet. Your turn will come.
