Identity Crime a Growing Threat to Texans

On October 15, 2003 in San Antonio, our agency joined with the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to sponsor a seminar for law enforcement on the seriousness and pervasiveness of identity crime. Identity theft is a felony crime in Texas, and peace officers are now required by law to receive training in this area. Our seminar focused on practical tools and resources available to law enforcement. The training also covered recent changes in Texas laws that assist victims of identity crime.

Identity crime is the theft or misuse of personal or financial identifiers in order to gain something of value and/or facilitate other criminal activity. There are numerous types of identity crime, including identity theft, credit card fraud ("skimming"), bank fraud, check fraud, and passport/visa fraud. Identity Crime can involve multiple victims, often involves a large dollar loss, may be used by organized criminal groups, and in many instances is associated with other crimes such as drug trafficking, mail fraud, terrorism, and financial fraud.

You provide a very real service by taking a victim's report of identity theft,. It is important that victims file a police report, because credit bureaus require the report in order to block incoming fraudulent claims and to begin repairing the victim's credit. In addition, many financial institutions require victims to submit a police report along with an affidavit of fraud.

Effective September 1, 2003, the venue for reporting identity crime to the police is the city or county where the victim resides. In the past, local law enforcement may have been reluctant to take police reports on identity crime, not for lack of concern, but due to confusion about jurisdiction. The new law clarifies that, regardless of where the fraudulent transactions originate, it is appropriate for the victim to make a police report wherever he or she resides.

Some law enforcement agencies may also have hesitated to take police reports on identity crime out of concern that they lacked resources to investigate or prosecute. They may also be reluctant to raise a victim's expectations. It is true that crimes involving fraud can be very complicated, and in many instances no arrest is ever made. But in other instances, one case leads to another and eventually police are able to make an arrest. You may want to caution victims that most identity crimes are not contained in one jurisdiction, and that they can be difficult to investigate.

Because identity crimes are usually multi-jurisdictional, we recommend that you contact federal agencies and other local and state law enforcement departments as appropriate when you receive a report about identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission offers a database called Consumer Sentinel, which serves as a tool for law enforcement investigating identity theft. Consumer Sentinel members include law enforcement agencies in Australia, Canada and the United States. The site can help law enforcement officers build cases and detect trends in consumer fraud and identity theft. Be sure your law enforcement organization is on the membership list on the Consumer Sentinel Public Site at www.ftc.gov/sentinel/members.shtml. If your agency is not on the list, find out how to sign up by calling 202-326-2913 or email sentinel@ftc.gov.

The U.S. Secret Service with the U.S Postal Inspection Service, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Federal Trade Commission has created an Identity Crime CD-Rom that we distribute in our training sessions. The CD provides tips and resources concerning the investigation of identity crimes. In this CD-Rom, there are more than 40 resources that officers can use in their investigations of identity crime, as well as 10 different victim assistance resources.

Identity crime can begin with what may seem like an unrelated crime such as a purse theft, mugging, mail theft, or theft of documents or information from businesses, medical facilities, hotels, or other businesses. With identity theft, victims may not realize their identity has been stolen until they are denied credit, sent a bill for purchases they did not make, or turned down for a job. By this time, the damage has been done. Rebuilding the victim's good name and credit can take months and even years.

It is important to understand the very real distress and loss that victims of identity theft may suffer as they are denied credit, hounded to pay debts they never incurred, and even arrested for crimes committed by thieves using their identities. We in the law enforcement community can help by providing victims with resources that they will need to recover. We recommend to victims that they contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to file a complaint and get additional helpful information by calling 1-877-ID-THEFT. We also provide more detailed information on our Web site about steps victims can take to prevent and recover from identity crimes.

In the coming year, our office will be offering more training seminars on this important topic. I hope that you or a member of your agency will consider attending. Together, we can help protect Texans from this fast growing and devastating crime.

Greg Abbott
Attorney General of Texas