The Id Theft Deterrence Act Can Help Victims Of Fraudulent Activity

Gartner Inc, a giant in the research field, estimates that only one out of seven hundred people who commit identity fraud ever gets brought to justice. In Medford Oregon recently they apparently found the one.

The Associated Press reported on an identity thief who showed at at an area bank to cash a bogus check. What gives this story such a weird twist is the person he victimized turned out to be the one that apprehended him. It appears they were in the bank to dispute the bogus charges which were on their financial statement.

Unfortunately for many others who have had their identity stolen there's no chance of them coming face to face with the thief and by some miracle apprehending them. Identity theft and fraud affects eight to nine million people every single year. While check fraud and other forms of identity theft have seen a sharp dropoff others such as phishing websites are rising at record levels. The breakneck speed of technological innovations is making identity theft easier and easier.

The ability to steal personal information has also reached cell phone users where downloading certain apps can result in sensitive data you've stored in your phone getting hijacked and sent to remote servers where thieves are waiting to record that information such as online banking logins and password.

The good news is there is an excellent resource at your disposal. In 1998 Congress passed into law the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. This law made identity theft a federal offense and with this comes tougher penalties anytime that identity theft criminals are seized and convicted.

It also put the Federal Trade Commission at the forefront of battling identity fraud. The FTC and specifically their website is filled with information such as preventions tips, video clips and news reports. Over the past 10 years they have done a remarkable job in their efforts to educate the public at large on exactly how engraved this particular crime has become in this country as well as the steps necessary to safeguard from it.

A major feature was the development of the Identity Theft Clearinghouse data bank. It is an online repository designed to help local and federal law enforcement officials. All complaints about identity theft are promptly entered into the database that is kept up to date consistently.

One final thing this law has accomplished is to help consumers with whatever credit problem they may be experiencing due to identity theft. Even when they know you have been the victim of identity fraud credit agencies for reasons all their own are slow to act in terms of eradicating it from your records. This action might get speeded up when you have the federal government supporting you.