Identity Theft: Growing Prevalence and Cost

Publication Date: February 2002

Publisher: General Accounting Office

Author(s): Richard M. Stana

Research Area: Justice

Type: Report

Abstract:

Since our earlier report in May 1998, various actions--particularly passage of federal and state statutes--have been taken to address identify theft. Later that year, Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 (the "Identity Theft Act"). Enacted in October 1998, the federal statute made identify theft a separate crime against the person whose identity was stolen, broadened the scope of the offense to include the misuse of information as well as documents, and provided punishment--generally, a fine or imprisonment for up to 15 years or both. Under U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines--even if (1) there is no monetary loss and (2) the perpetrator has no prior criminal convictions--a sentence of from 10 to 16 months incarceration can be imposed. Regarding state statutes, at the time of our 1998 report, very few states had specific laws to address identity theft. Now, less than 4 years later, a large majority of states have enacted identify theft statues.