Identity Theft News

Top law enforcement agencies agree that the key to identity theft is the misuse of consumer address and billing information.

Identity Theft Victims Getting Younger
Stealing a baby's identity, it turns out, is like, well, taking candy from a baby.

The Federal Trade Commission reports the number of identity theft complaints involving Americans 18 or younger nearly doubled in the past three years.

Why are identity thieves targeting kids? Because, the FTC says, it's easy.

IRS Notices More Identity Theft Attempts
The Internal Revenue Service, noting an escalation in identity theft scams, is raising alarms about e-mails designed to dupe taxpayers into revealing personal financial information.

IRS and Treasury Department officials have noticed an increase this winter in the frequency and sophistication of "phishing" schemes that use the tax agency's logo to lure victims.

Identity theft losses grow, Web a small factor
U.S. consumers lost nearly $57 billion last year to criminals who stole their identities, but online fraud was the culprit in just one in 10 cases, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Be Alert Using Personal Info This Month, Cautions Identity Theft Assistance Center
Several factors have combined to make consumers especially vulnerable to identity thieves during the month of December, according to the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC). ITAC offers free victims assistance to customers of its member companies, which include the nation's largest financial services companies.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox Launches Identity Theft Awareness Weeks Sept. 12-25 - LANSING, Mich., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney General Mike Cox announced today a two-week statewide campaign to raise awareness of identity theft among Michigan's senior citizens. From September 12 until September 25, Cox is providing educational materials and prevention tips to seniors via radio, newspaper, Internet, videos, DVDs, and community-based informational kiosks.

Grand Theft Identity
Be careful, we've been told, or you may become a fraud victim. But now it seems that corporations are failing to protect our secrets. How bad is the problem, and how can we fix it?

Breach exposes U.S. Air Force officers to ID Theft
More than 33,000 U.S. Air Force officers could be at greater risk of identity theft after a "malicious user" accessed a database containing personal information, an Air Force official said on Tuesday.

ID theft puts victims in jams with law
Victims of identity theft could pay a much bigger price than lost credit cards and raided bank accounts. Hundreds of victims across the country have been mistakenly arrested because the justice system failed to distinguish them from the criminals, according to victim advocates and criminal-justice experts. Read more about ID theft.

U.S. colleges struggle to combat identity theft
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Despite their image as leafy enclaves of higher learning shielded from the real world, universities across the United States are finding themselves on the front lines of the battle against identity theft. Read more about Identity Theft.

The Scary New World of Identity Theft
40 Million Hacked Credit Cards: Are You a Victim? Read Newsweeks featured article on Identity Theft.

Reports Of Identity Theft Continue To Rise
With more reports of large-scale data-security breaches last week, the identity-theft problem seemed to be spinning out of control. That's prompting Congress to consider a tougher disclosure law and a government-academic cooperative to work on new technologies. Read more about Identity Theft.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) is a nonprofit consumer organization with a two-part mission -- consumer information and consumer advocacy. It was established in 1992 and is based in San Diego, California. It is primarily grant-supported and serves individuals nationwide. Read more about Privacy Rights.

Identity Theft Resource Center
A national nonprofit organization that focuses exclusively on identity theft. ITRC was founded in December 1999 by Linda and Jay Foley. While its national office is based in San Diego, CA, ITRC has representatives working with its program throughout the United States. Read more about Identity Theft Resources.

ID theft concerns grow, tools lacking
Overwhelmed by a flood of bad ID theft news, consumers in search of a raft say the government isn’t doing enough to protect them. Read more about ID Theft.