Crimes of impersonation or identity theft via electronic means )A comparative study)

Main Article Content

Abdulrahman Dakhel Nahi

Abstract

The crime of electronic impersonation is one of the newly introduced crimes due to developments in the technological field. This crime has emerged as one of the modern forms of criminal acts that were not common when the Iraqi Penal Code (111) was enacted in 1969. Therefore, this form is a form of fraud crimes at the present time, which is considered one of the most serious crimes facing society. Therefore, countries have begun to criminalize it in particular by issuing criminal legislation related to criminalizing this type of acts. However, the absence of a law specific to these crimes does not prevent us from resorting to the general rules in the Iraqi Penal Code to criminalize this crime, because they are applied to these acts in principle. In the event that it is electronic, its effects are similar to the effects of the crime of impersonation and the crime of forgery that are known in the Iraqi Penal Code. Therefore, we decided to address this issue in three basic chapters. The crime of impersonation or electronic capacity may appear in several forms, including illicit access to websites and impersonation. Their actual owners, or simply viewing information from websites belonging to natural or legal persons and seizing information related to these persons with the aim of publishing it or blackmailing their owners. This crime may also include destroying the website after viewing it, and this crime is like other crimes that have two elements. The first is The material element that includes criminal behavior consists of the forms we mentioned. This crime also has a moral element consisting of the knowledge and will that the offender must have for the purpose of holding him accountable for his criminal behavior. Although there is no special law for this crime, it is essentially subject to the provisions of Articles (261,260) of the Penal Code which dealt with the issue of fraud.


          The study included a main question: What is the crime of electronic impersonation, its prevention, and its punishment provisions? The answer, when analyzing the crime of electronic impersonation, was clear that it is a serious criminal behavior represented by the perpetrator hacking a website, accessing information and data, then impersonating the website owner, and dealing with the public by means of Electronic communication means that the website owner achieves material benefits and causes material and moral harm to the website owner. This requires a legislative confrontation of this criminal behavior, which represents an attack on private life, which the Constitution stipulates to protect. This is what calls on the Iraqi legislator to legislate a law that combats electronic crime in general. The crime is the subject of research in particular, and the penalty for impersonation or electronic identity has been increased and made it a felony instead of a misdemeanor, as stipulated in the Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969 in force to achieve general and specific deterrence and protect the rights of victims

Article Details

How to Cite
Dakhel Nahi ع. . (2025). Crimes of impersonation or identity theft via electronic means )A comparative study). MIsan Journal of Comparative Legal Studies, 1(13), 25–55. Retrieved from https://uomisan.edu.iq/law/mjcls/index.php/mjcls/article/view/439
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