I am finally pleased to see that the State legislators are getting around to protecting the citizens of their State from identity thieves. I recently read excerpts of the new Indiana Law (House Act 1121) which offers assistance to victims of identity theft and creates Class C felonies for the criminals who have been previously getting slaps on the wrist. It’s about time that we’re moving in the right direction. After all, monitoring your credit can only help so much against the #1 crime in the Country. We need our government to chime in and put some meat on the thin bones of these laws.
Check out this article from Storage and Destruction Business Magazine with some of the elements of the new law:
The Indiana Attorney General’s Office is holding a series of Continuing Legal Education classes to educate constituents on the impact that ID theft can have on a person. Registration for the first class is full, although the Indiana AG’s office has indicated additional classes will be announced soon.
The effort comes as Indiana’s new identity-theft protection law, House Enrolled Act 1121, took effect the beginning of this month. The new law boosts protections for consumers and creates new rights for victims, while giving local and state authorities more powerful tools to crack down on identity thieves.
Among other things, the new law does the following:
•Makes it a crime for a parent or guardian to use a child’s personal information to commit identity theft and fraudulently obtain credit. The new crime is a Class C felony, punishable by two to eight years in prison.
•Creates the new crime of synthetic identity theft, to specify that combining parts of the identities of several people into a hybrid, fictional person in order to commit fraud also is illegal. It’s a Class D felony, punishable by six months to three years imprisonment.
•Creates recovery tools for victims. Identity theft victims often have difficulty establishing new credit or utility service because of damage to their credit histories. HEA 1121 gives Hoosiers the ability to go to court and obtain a declaratory judgment, a legal document that says the person was an innocent victim of identity theft, in order to correct their records.
•Increases the penalties for database owners who recklessly discard consumers’ personal information, such as Social Security numbers, in a manner that could subject consumers to identity theft. If a business discards such records without shredding, blacking out or incinerating them first, then the Attorney General’s office could file suit and seek penalties of $5,000 per incident for the violation. Database owners also are now required to notify the attorney general’s office – as well as consumers – if a security breach occurs.
•Formally establishes the ID Theft Unit. Created administratively by former Attorney General Steve Carter in January 2008, the ID Theft Unit is a team of attorneys and investigators who use computer forensic techniques to probe complaints and assist victims. HEA 1121 by statute makes the unit a permanent part of the Attorney General’s office as of July 1, 2009.
Since it was created 18 months ago, the ID Theft Unit has investigated more than 600 cases or referrals and recovered more than $608,000 in refunds for consumers, and its investigations have resulted in 13 arrests. Under the new law, the ID Theft Unit will also have an expanded role, through public presentations, in educating consumers on how to avoid being victimized and mitigate the damage if identity is stolen.
