Thursday, April 7, 2005
QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY RICHARD A. BROWN URGES LEGISLATURE TO INCREASE PROTECTION FOR CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES FROM IDENTITY THEFT AND ENACT STIFFER PENALTIES
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today testified before a joint hearing of the Assembly Banks, Consumer Affairs and Codes Committees and called upon the Legislature to increase protection for consumers and businesses from identity theft and enact tougher penalties. He also requested that the Legislature provide additional resources to prosecutors to handle the growing number of identity theft cases.
District Attorney Brown said, “We have done much but we need to do more. Our laws have not kept up with the rapidly changing nature of identity theft, and our State does not currently offer sufficient protection to consumers and businesses victimized by identity theft. The Legislature can help law enforcement put identity thieves out of business.”
The hearing at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens was chaired by Assembly Members Catherine T. Nolan, Audrey I. Pfeffer and Joseph R. Lentol.
In 2002 the Legislature adopted a tough new identity theft law. It made identity theft a felony and provided stiff penalties of up to seven years in prison for the unlawful, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, including names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, credit and debit card numbers, bank account numbers, computer passwords, mother’s maiden name and ATM codes.
But in light of changes in the nature and extent of identity theft, the District Attorney urged lawmakers to take additional measures. He asked them to make the theft of a credit card account number a felony punishable by up to four years in prison and to increase the penalties for the crime of identity theft by creating higher levels of felonies for crimes involving large numbers of victims and substantial amounts of money.
District Attorney Brown also asked the Legislature to reduce the cost and inconvenience to victims and businesses by allowing them to submit affidavits rather than appear in person in the Grand Jury to authenticate records or confirm ownership of stolen account numbers.
The District Attorney also said that “prosecutors must have additional resources to handle these complex and labor intensive cases. Any comprehensive strategy to combat identity theft must include equipping prosecutors’ offices with specially trained attorneys, detectives and forensic accountants to investigate and prosecute identity theft.”
District Attorney Brown said that identity thieves can use a variety of techniques to prey upon victims. He cited as examples several identity theft prosecutions by his office including:
-a Manhattan woman employed as an office temp who worked for a North Carolina public television station pledge drive in 2004 now facing jail for pilfering donors’ names and credit card numbers and using the information to fraudulently purchase air line travel packages.
-a Richmond Hill youth now facing prison in three successive prosecutions for identity theft between 2002-2004 in which he stole the identities of hundreds of on-line computer service customers by obtaining their credit information through “phishing” –- sending a fake e-mail to thousands of customers stating that their account information has been lost due to a glitch and requesting a reply e-mail containing the missing information -- and made fraudulent purchases of goods and services.
-a Garden City-based ring of lawyers, a real estate broker, a title closer and others who staged sham real estate closings in 2003 and sold six single-family houses in South Ozone Park, Jamaica and St. Albans without the knowledge of their owners.
-a Jackson Heights variety store owner imprisoned for masterminding an intricate credit card fraud and money laundering scheme that ripped off nine credit card companies between 1999 and 2002 for over $6.8 million.
-a Flushing clothing store employee arrested last month for using an electronic skimming device to steal patrons’ credit card numbers.
The District Attorney said that instances of identity theft and related financial crimes have risen in recent years and that last year his Economic Crimes Bureau had handled over 2,000 identity theft and fraud complaints.
District Attorney Brown said that New York State stands third in the nation in the number of identity theft complaints and seventh in the nation in per capita identity theft reports. He said that identity theft causes annual losses to businesses and financial institutions of nearly $50 billion and out of pocket costs to consumers of another $5 billion.
The District Attorney told the legislators, “Clearly, there is much work to be done to protect New York consumers from the dangers of identity theft. Together we can accomplish a great deal to educate the public, take better precautions to prevent identity theft and to impose swift, certain and appropriately stiff sanctions on those who destroy the credit and reputation of innocent victims.”