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When bad things happen
to someone’s good name

Identity theft has been the No. 1 consumer complaint for the last five years, and a recent increase of news reports show how fast the problem is growing in Hawaii and across the nation. The Federal Trade Commission recently determined that between October 1998 and September 2003, more than 27 million Americans were victims of identity theft, resulting in billions of dollars of losses to consumers. Since that time, millions more Americans have been at risk of becoming identity theft victims due to stolen confidential credit records or inadvertent disclosure or loss of such information by financial institutions and data processing companies.

According to the FTC's "Identity Theft Victim Complaint Data" for 2004, Hawaii's rate of credit card fraud, phone or utilities fraud, and bank fraud -- as a percentage of all reported identity thefts -- is higher than the national average. In addition, attempted identity theft in Hawaii outpaces the national average.

Two independent surveys found that as many as 7 million American consumers had new accounts fraudulently opened in their names in 2004. In addition to the untold cost and heartache caused to the victims, businesses have been burdened with costs of up to $119 billion related to such identity theft.

The Lingle-Aiona administration introduced the "Identity Theft Protection Act of 2005" during this year's legislative session to address one common scenario: when a person steals someone's identity and seeks to open up new lines of credit in the victim's name. The bill would have permitted Hawaii citizens whose identification had been stolen to "freeze" the release of their credit history by credit reporting agencies. This safeguard would have made it virtually impossible for an identity thief to open an account in an innocent party's name.

Although the Legislature did not pass this measure, the Lingle-Aiona administration will push for its passage as well as other measures to protect consumers in the upcoming session. As part of its ongoing effort to protect consumers, the administration looks forward to working with the Legislature to enact tough new laws to curtail identity theft, fraud and other "e-crimes."

Besides tougher laws, the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs believes that the key to help guard against identity theft is education. The DCCA launched a new identity theft awareness campaign to educate consumers this week.

The department's Office of Consumer Protection created a series of educational television spots, a new Web site (www.idtheft.hawaii.gov) containing tips on how to protect yourself and what to do if your identity has been stolen, and an ID Theft Hotline (808-587-3222). The television spots are running on all four of Hawaii's major stations (KHON, KITV, KHNL, FOX) here in the islands and feature some of the most common ways a person's identity might be stolen, along with a reminder to call any one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) to obtain a free credit report.

With identity theft on the rise -- especially in Hawaii -- we strongly believe that public education is critical to protect consumers. At DCCA, we want to remind all consumers to guard against identity theft by placing outgoing mail in U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, contacting the credit reporting agencies to request a free report and by not giving out personal information to unknown persons. These are just a few examples of how to guard against identity theft. Our basic message to all consumers is: "Don't let bad things happen to your good name."

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