Your life is good. You have a wonderful family and you worked your butt off to live comfortably in a big, really nice house; but you did it. One morning you wake up to find that a lot of your hard earned money is gone. After some investigating, you are told that your identity was stolen. “Identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information and uses it without your permission. It’s a serious crime that can wreak havoc with your finances, credit history, and reputation — and can take time, money, and patience to resolve” (Federal Trade Commission). Unfortunately identity theft happens, and it can happen to anyone. The government has done some things to deter the crime of identity theft because it happens more now than ever before …show more content…
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 transfer[ring] or us[ing], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law.’(Knox, Jeff USDOJ). Not only is the government creating and passing statues to deter identity theft, but they are also coming up with other strategies, “The national strategy delineates seven components: partnerships and collaboration, reporting preocedures, victim assistance, public awareness, legislation, information protection, and training” (USDOJ, COPS 2006). The government is doing what it can to protect people against identity theft. They are working among themselves within every department to create new strategies and make everyone aware of the recent