Monday, July 14, 2008

Identity Theft Prosecution


What's The Department Of Justice Doing About Identity Theft And Fraud?

The Department of Justice prosecutes cases of identity theft and fraud under a variety of federal statutes. In the fall of 1998, for example, Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act . This legislation created a new offense of identity theft, which prohibits knowingly transferring or using, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law. This offense, in most circumstances, carries a maximum term of 15 years imprisonment, a fine, and criminal forfeiture of any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offense.
Identity theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud, credit card fraud, computer fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, or financial institution fraud. Each of these federal offenses are felonies that carry substantial penalties ­ in some cases, as high as 30 years, imprisonment, fines, and criminal forfeiture.
Federal prosecutors work with federal investigative agencies such as the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service to prosecute identity theft and fraud cases.


You can prevent mail fraud simply by safeguarding incoming mail with an Identity Safe Mailbox. An identity safe mailbox consists of a locking mailbox in which the mail person can drop your mail into a hopper(similar to a USPS box). Mail is then only accessible by the owner through a locked door. (Make sure and choose a heavy duty steel or aluminum mailbox and not a plastic locking mailbox).
Why put yourself at risk when you can start protecting yourself now?

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