NCJ Number
230590
Date Published
October 2010
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This online publication from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, discusses establishing and/or expanding services to victims of identity theft and fraud.
Abstract
This online publication discusses identity theft and financial fraud, defined as crimes that may include check fraud, credit/debit card fraud, immigration fraud, postal fraud, medical fraud, outright theft of various kinds (pick pocketing, robbery, burglary, or mugging to gain a victim's personal information), and criminal activities ranging from counterfeiting and forgery to using a stolen identity to commit acts of terrorism. Growing trends in identity theft include employment-related and medical identity theft along with benefit fraud, criminal identity theft, and intergenerational identity theft. Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 which listed identity theft as a Federal crime and other Federal laws have since been enacted, such as the Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004. Victim's experiences with identity theft and financial fraud are presented along with the findings from four grantees: the Identity Theft Resource Center; the Victims Initiative for Counseling, Advocacy, and Restoration in the Southwest; the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center; and Atlanta Victim Assistance, to present the varied approaches to helping victims of these crimes. The publication also includes a section on victim assistance, covering: Protecting Victims' Privacy, Creating Self-Help Materials for Victims, Developing an Intake Process for Case Management, Case Handling and Documentation, Legal/Pro Bono Representation, Training for Victim Service Providers and Allied Professionals, Building Partnership, Public Awareness and Outreach, and Tools/Resources for Victims.