New Indiana Law Creates ID Theft Unit in AG's Office

A new law enacted by the Indiana General Assembly to protect consumers will take effect on July 1.

The first, Public Law 137, is the state’s latest weapon in the war against identity theft. Authored by State Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, the legislation creates a unit within the Attorney General’s Office to investigate and prosecute ID theft and to assist victims.

“As Hoosiers increase their reliance on electronic forms of payment, the risk of identity theft will continue to grow,” Lawson said in a statement released on Wednesday by the media office of the Democratic Caucus. “By giving the Attorney General’s Office additional powers to stop identity theft, we can greatly reduce the instances of these crimes and save innumerable Hoosiers from financial ruin.”

Other provisions of the law:

• To stop sloppy business practices which increase the risk of ID theft, the law requires database operators to report security breaches to the Attorney General and forces businesses which handle personal information to implement reasonable security procedures.
• The law requires businesses to make reasonable efforts to verify the identity of an applicant before extending a line of credit and bars businesses from denying credit to an applicant because he is a past victim of identity theft.

“Identity theft was the top consumer complaint made to the Federal Trade Commission in 2008,” the statement said. “Studies show that there were approximately 9.9 million ID theft victims in the U.S. that year. Of that number, 328 complaints were made directly to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office.”

To learn more about Identity Theft and what to do if you are a victim, visit www.StopIdTheftCrime.com and subscribe to the newsletter to obtain your free 46 page eBook "Fighting Back Against Identity Theft".

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