New state law aims at fighting identity theft-WEB ONLY

A new state law creates the crime of synthetic identity theft to specify that combining parts of the identities of into a hybrid, fictional person in order to commit fraud is a felony punishable by six months to three years.

“With the downturn in the economy, criminals have become relentless in their efforts to steal the identities of consumers and fraudulently open lines of credit,” Attorney General Greg Zoeller said yesterday. “Identity theft is devastating to victims and can take months or years to untangle.”

Another provision gives victims of identity theft the ability to go to court and get a declaratory judgment, a legal document that says the person was an innocent victim, in order to correct their records.

The law that took effect July 1 also increases the penalties for database owners who discard consumers’ personal data, such as Social Security numbers, in a way that could subject them to identity theft – such as not shredding, blacking out or incinerating them first. Authorities can now seek penalties of $5,000 per incident. Database owners also are now required to notify the attorney general’s office, as well as consumers, if a security breach occurs.

An earlier law allows consumers to go to an attorney general’s Web site to obtain a so-called security freeze tied to all three major credit-reporting bureaus to prevent people from obtaining credit in their name. They can also lift the freeze temporarily from the Web site.

Before that, people had to obtain security freezes – or lift them temporarily – by mail. That would slow the process for someone who might need access to immediate credit for some reason, such as replacing a broken refrigerator or buying a new car.

The attorney general’s office is holding a series of classes to train attorneys on the legal ramifications of dealing with identity theft. Others will be offered to retail merchants, social services workers and others.

Nationally, about $60 billion was lost in 2008 due to data breaches and identity theft. Some 35.6 million consumer records were exposed, a 47 percent increase over 2007.

That’s according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a not-for-profit group based in San Diego that helps identity theft victims and educates organizations and governments on the crime.

Although some new federal rules to combat identity theft will take effect Aug. 1, most states have enacted their own laws and have updated them as the crime evolves, said Linda Foley, the Resource Center’s founder.

“It’s like an oil spill,” Foley said. “States frequently can act more quickly.”