"Identity theft is a rising threat that has been around for a while now. These days, it is not only the individual that can suffer - money laundering, terrorist financing and many other crimes can result from the loss of personal identity information. Forging of documents and impersonation occurred long before the Internet, and many non-digital techniques are still used to improperly acquire and exploit identity information. However, with the advent of the information age and the pervasion of computers, identity information resides in many more locations and can potentially be acquired and collected with greater ease and in great numbers. The threat in the current day is comprised of both digital and 'real-world' elements, with many scams involving both aspects.