identity theft became a federal crime in 2003.
identity theft became a federal crime in 2003.
when did identity theft become a federal crime?
2003
the increase in crimes of identity theft led to the drafting of the identity theft and assumption deterrence act. in 1998, the federal trade commission appeared before the united states senate. the ftc discussed crimes which exploit consumer credit to commit loan fraud, mortgage fraud, lines-of-credit fraud, credit card fraud, commodities and services frauds. the identity theft deterrence act (2003)[itada] amended u.s. code title 18, § 1028 ("fraud related to activity in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and information"). the statute now makes the possession of any "means of identification" to "knowingly transfer, possess, or use without lawful authority" a federal crime, alongside unlawful possession of identification documents. however, for federal jurisdiction to prosecute, the crime must include an "identification document" that either: (a) is purportedly issued by the united states, (b) is used or intended to defraud the united states, (c) is sent through the mail, or (d) is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce. "see" (c). punishment can be up to 5, 15, 20, or 30 years in federal prison, plus fines, depending on the underlying crime per (b). in addition, punishments for the unlawful use of a "means of identification" were strengthened in § 1028a ("aggravated identity theft"), allowing for a consecutive sentence under specific enumerated felony violations as defined in § 1028a(c)(1) through (11).
identity theft
determining the link between data breaches and identity theft is challenging, primarily because identity theft victims often do not know how their personal information was obtained, and identity theft is not always detectable by the individual victims, according to a report done for the ftc. identity fraud is often but not necessarily the consequence of identity theft. someone can steal or misappropriate personal information without then committing identity theft using the information about every person, such as when a major data breach occurs. a us government accountability office study determined that "most breaches have not resulted in detected incidents of identity theft". the report also warned that "the full extent is unknown". a later unpublished study by carnegie mellon university noted that "most often, the causes of identity theft is not known", but reported that someone else concluded that "the probability of becoming a victim to identity theft as a result of a data breach is ... around only 2%". more recently, an association of consumer data companies noted that one of the largest data breaches ever, accounting for over four million records, resulted in only about 1,800 instances of identity theft, according to the company whose systems were breached.
identity theft