Sunday, April 20, 2008

Payback for ID Theft

Can a new bill in Congress stem the tide of online fraud?

by Isabelle Groc

While Ray Adams was participating in an eBay auction, he received an e-mail asking him to update his account. It appeared to originate from eBay, so he provided his credit card number, Social Security number, phone, and address. When he realized he had fallen for a phishing e-mail, it was already too late....

According to a recent Gartner survey, in the 12 months ending August 2006 some 15 million Americans were victims of identity theft, a 50 -percent increase over 2003 Federal Trade Commission estimates of such frauds.

To address this growing problem, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) recently introduced a bill, the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act, that gives victims the chance to seek restitution of costs incurred if anyone is convicted. The bill also expands the power of law enforcement agencies to deal with cases of identity theft.

To read the whole article click here.

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