"Identity theft and fraud committed with someone else's identity is the fastest growing crime in the United States, and Hawaii nor the military are exceptions to this trend. In 2003, Hawaii ranked 25th in the Nation for Identity Thefts, but it was second in the Nation for frauds committed with stolen identities," said Kubo.
Each year, thousands of victims in the United States spend hundreds of dollars and countless hours trying to restore their damaged credit because of being a victim of these types of crimes. The situation becomes more egregious when the victim is a military member who is deployed or their dependents back home.
In May, 2006, the Veterans Administration in Washington announced the theft of personal information of approximately 26.5 million veterans, when a VA employee took unauthorized veteran data home, which was later stolen during a burglary. The compromised data include the Social Security numbers and birth dates of veterans. Although there was no evidence of any fraud committed with this stolen information, "our military families expect us to remain vigilant for these crimes and to prosecute any perpetrators aggressively," Kubo said.
Kubo has become concerned from recent military and national news articles that there seems to be a growing problem with identity theft committed on military members and families. Thus, in recent weeks, Kubo has met with the Hawaii Field Office Commanders and Special Agents in Charge for the FBI, Army CID, Navy NCIS, and Air Force OSI to discuss the risks to military members and dependents from Identity Theft. Kubo has instructed all military investigative agencies to forward all identity theft investigations to his office for potential federal prosecutions.
Federal law now requires that all perpetrators of aggravated identity thefts receive a mandatory two-year jail sentence, on top of any other sentence imposed for other crimes.
"Anyone who steals the identity and victimizes a military member or his family will now be facing hard federal time. No probation. Period," Kubo said.
