Tanner, Davis Work to Combat Identity Theft
By Richard Powelson
Knoxville News Sentinel
February 23, 2003

Nearly 2,000 Tennesseans last year reported that someone had stolen part of their identity, so two U.S. House members from the state are trying to pass stronger federal penalties for this crime.

Identity theft can be more traumatic than a home burglary. A burglary can be a one-time event. But a crook learning your Social Security number, date of birth, name and address can cause multiple financial problems, including bad credit and legal hassles that can take years to straighten out.

U.S. Reps. Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall and John Tanner of Union City, both Democrats, are trying to pass H.R. 858. It is intended to provide penalties for some new categories of identity theft and make convictions easier.

Also, it would set longer prison time - an extra two to five years - over current penalties for conviction of using stolen identity information that violate laws in such areas as immigration, terrorism, citizenship, firearms purchases or sales. The range of current penalties is either a fine and/or prison time ranging from three to 25 years.

Tanner, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which in part supervises Social Security operations, has attended committee hearings about identity theft nationally and heard of crimes involving residents of his district.

For example, the Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs was contacted by a woman who got a bill for a $45,000 car driven away by someone using portions of her identity.

Experts on prevention say remove your Social Security number from checks, driver's license and any other ID where it is not absolutely necessary.

For PINs or passwords, do not use information that thieves may have or can get, such as birth date, part of one's Social Security number or mother's maiden name.

Consumers also should study their monthly statement of charges, experts recommend, for signs of fraud so they can contest the charges or even close the account to stop more fraud.

If you learn that someone has stolen key parts of your identity, notify the three major credit-reporting agencies so they will not approve any new applications for credit under your name unless they call you first at a certain number.

Also, they say not to use a credit card to purchase from small businesses out of state if you don't know their reputation. I learned this lesson in trying to buy something for a family member from a small business in California that advertised on the Internet. Within 24 hours, someone in that California city charged four large purchases using my credit card number and expiration date.

Due to vigilance by my credit card company, the fraud was noticed immediately.

I was contacted by an investigator, asked about the charges out West, said I didn't authorize those, and my account was closed to stop other crimes.

Prosecutors can use either state or federal law for certain identity fraud, whichever better fits the crime and has the tougher penalty.

Tanner said identity theft can be much more troublesome in this post-Sept. 11 environment where terrorists may have suicide missions anywhere in the country.

Besides greatly harming someone's finances, a criminal may be able to assume the identity of a flight attendant, a professor in a lab storing anthrax or move freely through a hospital.