Monday, August 28, 2000

Identity theft A news brief in the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) Citizen Agenda, Summer 2000, p.6, is worth noting here, with the rapid increase in identity theft. We used to see a case or two a year. Now they seem to be coming in much more often, perhaps a few each month. Survey Details Hassles of Identity Theft Identity theft victims spend two years or more removing an average of $18,000 in fraudulent charges from their credit reports. ``Unless new laws force banks, department stores and credit bureaus to clean up the identity theft mess, this crime is only going to get worse.'' said CALPIRG's Dan Jacobson -- who is urging state lawmakers to back proposals pending in the Legislature that would allow consumers to block access to their credit reports and streamline law enforcement investigation and victim assistance programs. Try sending e-mail to calpirg@pirg.org to request the report. Unfortunately their Web site at www.calpirg.org is apparently still under construction as I write this. ["Peter G. Neumann" via risks-digest Volume 21, Issue 04] 0:00 # G!