The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) just released its identity theft predictions for 2009. Here are some of the scams that are expected to increase next year:

• Real estate-based scams: These scams include refinancing current loans, and adding in unforecasted payments or property to increase the cost of the loan.
• Credit card scams: Thieves may advertise the ability to get credit cards despite a poor credit score or the lack of a Social Security number. There will continue to be more scams that offer to consolidate your credit card debt or to renegotiate your interest rates.
• Other scams: Job scams are on the rise. Consumers have also been receiving more “phishing” scam emails due to the merging of financial institutions and stores.
• Professional thieves and targeted attacks: The ITRC anticipates an increase in more sophisticated ways to “mine” information, perhaps by organized crime groups.
• Check Fraud: As it becomes more difficult to get new lines of credit, identity thieves may be drawn more to commit check fraud. These crimes may take the form of stolen checks, using checks thrown into the trash by unknowing consumers or even synthetic checks.

The number of U.S. breaches of personal information that could be used to commit identity theft so far this year has already passed the total for 2007.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, this year’s running total passed the 2007 mark of 446 on Friday, with more than four months to go.

Between January 1st and June 27th, the total number of data breaches recorded by the ITRC is 342, more than 69% greater than the same time period in 2007. The actual number of breaches is more than likely higher, due to underreporting, and the fact that some of the breaches reported, which affect multiple businesses, are listed as a single event.

According to the L.A. Times, easy methods and the availability of tools have attracted Crips, the Mexican Mafia and other gangs to identity theft.

Law enforcement officials and fraud experts say they’re seeing more identity theft cases caused by criminals better known for violence and drug trafficking. Because identity theft is easy to pull off and the tools for mass fraud so widely available, it is increasingly attractive to traditional street gangs. Their role, which contributed to a 31% increase in identity-theft complaints to local authorities last year, is highlighted in a study of California identity fraud released by Identity Theft 911, a consulting firm.

Gang members sometimes recruit corporate insiders, said Linda Foley, co-founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego nonprofit group that helped with the study. They visit restaurants and other hangouts, listening for people complaining about money troubles, then offer cash in exchange for information they can use in identity theft.

The Associated Press reports that Ashley Dupre, the call girl best known for her role the scandal that led to the resignation of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s career, has been charged with identity theft.

Dupre used a stolen driver’s license to appear on a “Girls Gone Wild” video. Now the woman whose driver’s license she used, Amber Arpaio, has filed a lawsuit against Dupre, requesting unspecified monetary compensation for defamation and invasion of privacy.

Arpaio said she doesn’t know Dupre and has no idea how she got hold of her license.

Arpaio is also suing “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joseph Francis.

Identity theft experts at The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) said that the number of data breach have reached a record high, according to a Washington Post article. Between January 1 and June 27 this year, the total number of data breaches recorded by the ITRC is 342, more than 69% greater than the same time period in 2007.

The Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego tracked 342 data breach reports during the survey period. More than one-third of the reports came from businesses, a 27 percent increase over business breaches for all of 2007.

The center found that data breaches among health-care providers and banks also increased. They now account for 15 percent and 10 percent of the breaches, respectively. Breaches from educational institutions, government entities and the military declined for the third year in a row, the center found.