Why is that not unrealistic? NYC has 8.3 million people as of 2008. Even if 99,999 people had their identities stolen for iPhones, that's only 1.2% of the population. Consider that as of 4.6% of the population were victims of ID fraud according to the Federal Trade Commission.
I think it would take less than 99,999 cases in a concentrated area for AT&T to consider potential fraud a problem. Even 50,000 iPhones and accounts lost due to fraud would cause about $15 million in losses, assuming an average $300 subsidy per iPhone.
Also: it's not just ID theft that could be the issue here. there are other ways to scam iPhones off AT&T and resell them.
Hold on. ID theft is not nearly as commonplace as 1.2% in NYC and it wouldn't mean that half of them would get iPhones. Operations that large have IDs from all across the country, if not the world. It is rather strange that AT&T's timing is right during the holiday season when a huge amount of people would be purchasing an iPhone and it is not like these thieves would be waiting til the holidays to use this info. You would have to believe that AT&T is willing to lose all the online sales from the iPhone on Christmas to stop some thieves.
star Lauren Conrad,
Lauren Conrad: I would say the
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I think it would take less than 99,999 cases in a concentrated area for AT&T to consider potential fraud a problem. Even 50,000 iPhones and accounts lost due to fraud would cause about $15 million in losses, assuming an average $300 subsidy per iPhone.
Also: it's not just ID theft that could be the issue here. there are other ways to scam iPhones off AT&T and resell them.
Hold on. ID theft is not nearly as commonplace as 1.2% in NYC and it wouldn't mean that half of them would get iPhones. Operations that large have IDs from all across the country, if not the world. It is rather strange that AT&T's timing is right during the holiday season when a huge amount of people would be purchasing an iPhone and it is not like these thieves would be waiting til the holidays to use this info. You would have to believe that AT&T is willing to lose all the online sales from the iPhone on Christmas to stop some thieves.
