Can Any Law Prevent Identity Theft?
A Congressional panel seeking to determine the success of existing laws against identity theft was told that legislative attempts to stem the flow of personal information would not prevent identity theft and fraud.
Saying that information is a key factor in the nation’s economic growth, Associated Credit Bureaus president D. Barry Connelly told the House telecommunications, trade and consumer protection and finance and hazardous materials subcommittees, that “laws that limit information are most likely to merely take fraud prevention tools out of the hands of legitimate industry” and its ability to “cross check information.”
Explaining to the panel how a person’s credit reports are developed and used and ACB initiatives to combat fraud and identity theft, Connelly said legislative attempts to limit the ability to double check personal information, including credit data, will make identification theft and fraud more difficult to prevent or stop.
Charles A. Albright, chief credit officer of Household International Inc, testified that identity theft crimes “are rarely prosecuted,” largely because “a number of different law enforcement authorities have some jurisdiction over the problem and that identify fraud can surface in an array of financial crimes.”
Last year, he said, Household, a major provider of consumer financial services and credit card products, “had more than 18,000 incidences of true-name fraud with claims in excess of $35 million.” According to Albright “the average size of an identity fraud case is approximately $2,000 for our consumer finance and retail services businesses and $1,600 for our bank card business.”
