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U.S. Banks to Pool ID Theft Data to Provide to FTC
Financial service providers in the United States will soon begin pooling information on cases of customer identity theft (ID theft) and providing that information to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help the FTC find and prosecute identity thieves. The announcement was made recently by the Identity Theft Assistance Centre (ITAC), a cooperative initiative originally formed by the financial services industry to help victims of ID theft restore their financial identity.
A prevalent form of ID theft is "phishing", whereby identity thieves use fraudulent e-mails to trick their victims into disclosing sensitive personal information and then assume the victims' identities to access the victims' financial accounts.
Financial service providers in the United States have traditionally provided information about ID theft to law enforcement agencies but only on a case-by-case basis. This initiative will be the first time the industry will share information about ID theft cases as matter of course. The information will go into the FTC's Consumer Sentinel database that is used by law enforcement agencies to find and prosecute identity thieves throughout the world.
For additional information, visit:
http://news.com.com/2110-7348_3-5777098.html