NCJ Number
224893
Date Published
2005
Length
80 pages
Annotation
This report presents a summary of California’s first Summit on Identity Theft Solutions: Locking Up the Evil Twin and recommendations to address the investigation and prosecution of identity theft cases.
Abstract
The March 2005 Summit on Identity Theft Solutions, held in Sacramento, CA, focused on clarifying the major obstacles to the successful prosecution of the crime and on suggesting solutions to overcome those obstacles. The Summit brought together those most knowledgeable about identity theft and particularly about prosecution issues. Speakers from financial institutions, online merchants, key government agencies, consumer organizations, and law enforcement shared their experience and their suggestions for further action. As the result of the Summit, a summary is presented on perspectives from four areas of which identity theft has had a significant impact and solutions instituted to address the problem of identity theft. These areas include: business, government, consumer, and law enforcement. In addition, several recommendations are made to address the challenges in investigating and prosecuting identity theft cases in the areas of legislation, education, victim services, and research. Highlights of these recommendations include: (1) legislation modeled on drug trafficking laws to make the possession of multiple persons’ profiles and the trafficking in such profiles a felony; (2) legislation to enhance penalties for “criminal” identity theft: the use of someone else’s personal information when arrested, cited, and convicted of a crime; (3) consumer education on protecting personal information; (4) training specific to investigating and prosecuting identity theft cases for law enforcement and prosecutors; (5) providing special assistance to victims of ‘criminal’ identity theft, including counseling; and (6) conducting research on “criminal” identity theft, the effectiveness of the Criminal Identity Theft Victim Registry and related processes, and on the information broker industry’s role in disseminating inaccurate information resulting from “criminal” identity theft. Appendixes