New Identity Theft Laws to Protect Hawaii's Consumers

The Hawaii Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs' (DCCA) Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) reminds consumers about three new laws to protect against identity theft, effective January 1, 2007.

ACT 135 (06) -- Notification of Security Breeches
Act 135 requires businesses and government agencies that keep confidential personal information about consumers to notify those consumers if that information is compromised by an unauthorized disclosure.

ACT 136 (06) --Destruction of Personal Information
Act 136 requires businesses and government agencies to take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to an individual's personal information when disposing of the records they keep.

ACT 138 (06) -- Security Freeze
Act 138 allows victims of identity theft to place a security freeze on their credit reports, which will prevent identity thieves from taking out credit in the names of their victims.

"We see hundreds of unsuspecting Hawaii residents become victims to a wide variety of identity theft crimes," said OCP Executive Director Stephen Levins. "These new laws will help to protect consumers from the fastest growing crime in the nation."

Identity theft is the number one concern among consumers contacting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Hawaii is ranked 13th in the nation for fraud complaints. Overall, Hawaii is ranked 25th in the nation for Identity Theft.

According to the FTC, Hawaii cases of identity theft shot up 265 percent from 2001 to 2005, resulting in millions of dollars of losses to consumers.