New York ID Theft Laws Become Active This Week

As three new laws become active Wednesday in the state of New York, residents will gain new powers to proactively safeguard themselves and family members against identity theft. New rights will allow New Yorkers to regularly "freeze" and "unfreeze" credit reports, prohibit online solicitation of personal information and prohibit companies from improperly disposing of customer and employee information.

A credit freeze bars lenders and others from reviewing an individual's credit history. As most lenders do not issue credit or loans without first seeing one or more credit reports, identity thieves can not open fraudulent accounts using the identity of someone who has frozen their credit reports.

"Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the country and in the state of New York with no signs of slowing down. However, today's legislation and technology are finally catching up with the identity thieves to protect potential victims," said Scott Mitic, national expert on identity theft and chief executive officer of TrustedID. "With these new laws, consumers now have greater control over their personal information, including the ability to freeze credit reports ultimately thwarting any identity theft attempts."

By locking credit reports, consumers are able to receive the highest level of protection against identity theft, prevent the sale of personal information from a credit report and ensure the strongest privacy possible for personal financial information. In addition, consumers can elect to unlock credit reports when needed.

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the country. According to a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) survey, New York has the highest number of identity theft victims in comparison to other states. In addition, New York ranked 8th among states in the number of identity theft crime complaints.

About New York Identity Protection Laws (Active November 1, 2006)

• The Security Freeze Law: Allows consumers, who are either identity theft victims or are concerned that they might be at risk of having their identities stolen, to cut off an identity thief's access to credit, loans, leases, goods and services by placing a "freeze" on their consumer credit report.
• The Disposal of Personal Records Law: Requires any business to properly dispose of records containing personal information or risk a civil penalty of up to $5,000.
• The Anti-Phishing Act of 2006: Prohibits the deceptive solicitation of personal information through electronic communications, including sending e-mails to Internet users, falsely claiming to be a legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information.