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House OKs More Jail Time for ID Thieves
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Wednesday, June 23, 2004; 5:30 PM
Criminals who steal sensitive personal data such as Social Security and credit card numbers while committing other crimes could get five extra years tacked onto the jail sentences under legislation approved today by the House of Representatives. The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act creates a new kind of crime, "aggravated identity theft," making it a felony to use stolen identities as part of committing other crimes. Most felons already sentenced to jail would get an extra two years for identity theft. They could get an additional five years for using stolen identities as part of committing a terrorist offense. The bill is similar to legislation that the Senate approved in 2003, but adds a new section targeting "insiders" who steal personal data from their fellow employees. Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), sponsor of the House bill, said in an interview that current penalties are not strong enough to deter "epidemic" levels of identity theft in the United States. "Insufficient legislation and prosecution has allowed a situation to arise where identities are easy to steal without fear of reprisal," Carter said. "Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that would-be terrorists may try to use stolen IDs, uniforms or vehicles to enter sensitive facilities to plan or carry out an attack." Jim Vaules, a vice president at Lexis-Nexis who specializes in identity theft issues, said the bill could be valuable if prosecutors try to take advantage of it. "Anything that's passed that draws attention to identity fraud is a positive," Vaules said. "Is it going to significantly impact the number of identity fraud cases we have? Probably not. But it adds another tool for the government if they want to use it." Identity theft topped the list of consumer fraud complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2003, accounting for more than half of all the complaints tracked by the agency. It was the fourth year in a row that it appeared at the top of the list. The FTC recorded 214,905 cases of identity theft in 2003, up from 161,836 in 2002. In a related development, the FTC and the Treasury Department teamed up last week with a coalition of consumer organizations and financial institutions to educate consumers about the dangers associated with one of the newest forms of ID theft – "phishing" scams that dupe consumers into handing over sensitive financial data to phony Web sites advertised through e-mail solicitations. The Anti-Phishing Working Group reported recently that the number of unique phishing scams making their way around the Internet rose 180 percent from March to April of this year. It is considered one of the most pernicious forms of ID theft today. Last September, the commission estimated that identity theft hit 9.9 million victims in 2002, costing businesses and consumers $53 billion. The FTC's report, based on a telephone survey of more than 4,000 adults, estimated that as many as 27.3 million Americans fell victim to identity theft in the last five years. Visa, Microsoft and Amazon.com formed the Coalition on Online Identity Theft in September 2003 to fight the trend, which they said threatens to undermine confidence in electronic commerce. Congress late last year passed a bill that allows people to report identity theft to a national hotline. It also allows consumers to get one free credit report a year from the nation's major credit bureaus to make sure that they have not become identity theft victims. The bill could go to the Senate for consideration, or the House and Senate could develop a compromise version.
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