# So why HASN'T there been a really large, wide scale theft based on hacked personal information? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112 "2017-09-12T00:00:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/1 "2017-09-12T00:00:15Z")
This has come up twice that I’ve seen in relation to the Equifax breach. I suppose we must be overestimating the ease with which it can be done on a large scale, even with scripts, but is that really why we haven’t seen a million people or more have their accounts drained of cash at roughly the same time, especially since I understand that the info can be bought in bulk? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/2 "2017-09-12T01:21:57Z")
[The IRS says almost 700,000 taxpayers complained they’d been victims of identity theft in 2015](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/prepared-remarks-of-john-a-koskinen-commissioner-internal-revenue-service-before-the-council-for-electronic-revenue-communications-enhancement-arlington-va-may-18-2017). By that, I’m guessing they mean someone filed a false tax return in their name. Not 1,000,000 but certainly enough to call it large scale. It happened to me, so it’s large enough! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/3 "2017-09-12T02:48:33Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > This has come up twice that I’ve seen in relation to the Equifax breach. I suppose we must be overestimating the ease with which it can be done on a large scale, even with scripts, but is that really why we haven’t seen a million people or more have their accounts drained of cash at roughly the same time, especially since I understand that the info can be bought in bulk? I was thinking about this the other day, and I thought: “At some point, if you steal everyone’s information, it’s effectively like you stole no one’s information”. Even the most ambitious criminal can’t fake 150,000,000 transactions, can they? At least, not all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/4 "2017-09-12T02:50:14Z")
It’s not going to be so much a matter of people having their accounts drained as it will be having credit accounts created with their information that are used for fraudulent purchases. As well as the IRS identity thefts shown by **kunilou**. I’m betting there will be a significant spike in those when the IRS gets around to releasing the figures. ETA: You’ll probably find them being sold off in lots of 10 or 100 thousand on the dark net to criminals who will then set up the fraudulent accounts. It’s not likely to be one group processing the whole pile. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/5 "2017-09-12T02:55:43Z")
I would not be surprised at all if we find out within a few months that the ‘hack’ was actually the work of Vladimir Putin’s "patriotic’ Russians. I’ve been fearing this for a while now. As it is with the election hacks, the Russians didn’t necessarily want to inflict pain at this moment, they just wanted to let us know that they could whenever they want to. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/6 "2017-09-12T13:27:08Z")
Or maybe Chinese hacks just to keep up with the Russians … ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/7 "2017-09-12T13:28:16Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > This has come up twice that I’ve seen in relation to the Equifax breach. I suppose we must be overestimating the ease with which it can be done on a large scale, even with scripts, but is that really why we haven’t seen a million people or more have their accounts drained of cash at roughly the same time, especially since I understand that the info can be bought in bulk? Stealing money electronically is tricky. You need to get cash, which is hard to do for a million accounts at the same time, or goods, ditto, or transfer it somewhere, which leaves a trail. It’s much easier to sell the credit card information to people who then use it to do smaller scale identity theft than it is to organize a massive heist. It also means you aren’t the single target of a big investigation. (Which the Equifax perpetrators already are, of course, but using the information would give the investigation more leads to work with.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-really-large-wide-scale-theft-based-on-hacked-personal-information/796112/8 "2017-09-12T15:18:12Z")
I think part of the reason they don’t make The Big Haul is that they don’t want to push it to the point where someone will decide that maybe the problem should be eliminated _permanently_. Several thousand low-to-middle class individuals are very unlikely to band together to do anything, but if major corporations are hit for too much, they might hit back.