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67 Alb. L. Rev. 1137 (2003-2004)
Identity Theft Statutes: Which Will Protect Americans the Most

handle is hein.journals/albany67 and id is 1151 raw text is: COMMENTS IDENTITY THEFT STATUTES: WHICH WILL PROTECT AMERICANS THE MOST? Catherine Pastrikos* INTRODUCTION Imagine opening up your mail and finding a credit card statement demanding the payment of thousands of dollars for items you never bought. Or, imagine getting pulled over on a neighborhood street for traveling a couple of miles over the speed limit only to end up getting arrested, strip searched, and taken to jail due to an outstanding arrest warrant for drugs and gun charges that someone else committed in your name. Unfortunately, for too many Americans, these nightmarish scenarios have become a reality. As the crime of identity theft has swept the nation, thousands of victims have been left with damaged credit, a criminal record, and emotional distress.' With the advent of the Internet, personal information travels across the globe at lightning speed.2 Identity thieves use personal information-such as names, social security numbers, and birth dates-to commit frauds or crimes in someone else's name. As a * B.S., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; J.D., Albany Law School. Thank you Mom, Dad, Lazarus, and Andrew for the unending support and inspiration you have given me throughout my entire life. I can hopefully do the same for you someday. I See, e.g., Michael Higgins, Identity Thieves, 84 A.B.A. J. 42 (1998) (citing an instance where an identity thief purchased over $110,000 worth of merchandise, consisting of bills for three pickup trucks, two motorcycles and a double-wide mobile home, under someone else's name). 2 See Glenn T. Inanaga, Narrowing Broadband Choices: AT&T's Monopoly Over the Future of the Internet, 10 S. CAL. INTERDISC. L.J. 133, 138-39 (2000) (discussing the ever increasing growth of the number of internet websites and users). See also Identity Theft Protection: Identity Theft Statistics, at http://www.identity-theft-protection.com/stats.html (last visited April 4, 2004) (indicating that identity theft is the most popular form of fraud as noted by the FTC). 1137

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