How did people in the past prevent identity theft? I mean before the photos and new secure technology on identity documents were available?
In: 568
Identity verification back in the day mostly relied on word of mouth, essentially a local notable person(often a local priest as they knew everybody) could vouch for who you were and if they didn’t know you personally they would likely know either your family, or your neighbors, etc who could also vouch for you. The modern notary public system is essentially the same thing. It still was possible to forge a letter of introduction from some important person(assuming you could read/write and reproduce whatever seal or signature they used) in a far off place and essentially get a new identity using that, but the moment you got in trouble and someone investigated it you would be found out.
Before the modern internet age, identity theft was not an issue. The only way it could be done was stealing passports etc or faking them.
Before the modern internet age, identity theft was not an issue. The only way it could be done was stealing passports etc or faking them.
There also wasn’t as much incentive for identity theft–travel was not as common, there weren’t huge lines of consumer credit, we didn’t have the internet, etc.–and the tools to do it weren’t as advanced. Which is not to say that it never happened, but these problems tend to get solved only when they create an expensive enough burden to motivate them to be solved–and they get solved only well enough to preserve the viability of the systems (like banking) that rely on them.
Credit cards for example used to be secure “enough” just because credit cards and then hologram stickers were difficult enough to forge that it wasn’t a big enough problem for them to care about.
Identity verification back in the day mostly relied on word of mouth, essentially a local notable person(often a local priest as they knew everybody) could vouch for who you were and if they didn’t know you personally they would likely know either your family, or your neighbors, etc who could also vouch for you. The modern notary public system is essentially the same thing. It still was possible to forge a letter of introduction from some important person(assuming you could read/write and reproduce whatever seal or signature they used) in a far off place and essentially get a new identity using that, but the moment you got in trouble and someone investigated it you would be found out.
Identity verification back in the day mostly relied on word of mouth, essentially a local notable person(often a local priest as they knew everybody) could vouch for who you were and if they didn’t know you personally they would likely know either your family, or your neighbors, etc who could also vouch for you. The modern notary public system is essentially the same thing. It still was possible to forge a letter of introduction from some important person(assuming you could read/write and reproduce whatever seal or signature they used) in a far off place and essentially get a new identity using that, but the moment you got in trouble and someone investigated it you would be found out.
There also wasn’t as much incentive for identity theft–travel was not as common, there weren’t huge lines of consumer credit, we didn’t have the internet, etc.–and the tools to do it weren’t as advanced. Which is not to say that it never happened, but these problems tend to get solved only when they create an expensive enough burden to motivate them to be solved–and they get solved only well enough to preserve the viability of the systems (like banking) that rely on them.
Credit cards for example used to be secure “enough” just because credit cards and then hologram stickers were difficult enough to forge that it wasn’t a big enough problem for them to care about.
There also wasn’t as much incentive for identity theft–travel was not as common, there weren’t huge lines of consumer credit, we didn’t have the internet, etc.–and the tools to do it weren’t as advanced. Which is not to say that it never happened, but these problems tend to get solved only when they create an expensive enough burden to motivate them to be solved–and they get solved only well enough to preserve the viability of the systems (like banking) that rely on them.
Credit cards for example used to be secure “enough” just because credit cards and then hologram stickers were difficult enough to forge that it wasn’t a big enough problem for them to care about.
The concept of “identity theft” rather than impersonation and fraud is relatively new. Impersonation has always been a problem, but not as much of one before the widespread availability of credit cards and such. Credit card companies created the idea of “identity theft” to put the burden of dealing with it on the person being impersonated.
The old Mission Impossible TV series seemed to perpetuate the myth that identity theft required sophisticated tech (creating latex masks on the fly, etc) but the movie “Catch Me If You Can” illustrated how hilariously easy it was.
Latest Answers