Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: McSweeny discusses identity theft, FTC efforts to protect consumers, (Oct 30, 2014)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny presented the keynote address at the Identity Theft Resource Center’s unveiling of the “Identity Theft: The Aftermath” survey, yesterday in Washington, D.C. The survey was created to provide people with a view of identity theft through the eyes of a victim, providing a snapshot of a victim’s experience for a given year.

According to McSweeny’s prepared remarks, Gallup released a new survey on Americans’ crime concerns, finding that one crime stood out across all ages, races, and income levels—identity theft. “Among all Americans, 60% were very concerned about their credit card information being hacked, 62% had similar worries about their smart phones or computers,” she said. “Identity theft is really ‘the crime’ of our interconnected technological world.”

She also noted that the losses are staggering, as financial losses resulting from identity theft in 2012 amounted to roughly $25 billion. For comparison, McSweeny reported that the total losses from all property crime combined in 2012 amounted to only $14 billion.

The impact on victims can also be life altering, she said. Specifically, victims could: (1) lose their ability to secure credit or apply for loans; (2) face harassment from collection agencies; (3) be required to pay more to keep the credit they have; and (4) lose their jobs or homes.

Ending on a more constructive note, the Commissioner discussed FTC and federal government efforts to fight identity theft and protect consumers. “I was thrilled to join President Obama two weeks ago when he unveiled the new ‘Buy Secure’ initiative and signed an Executive Order giving the FTC new tools to help the American consumer,” she said. Specifically, she noted that the Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Homeland Security will now provide their resources to the FTC’s IdentityTheft.gov web site so that consumers can visit one site and one agency for the resources they need. In addition the FTC will work with credit bureaus “to streamline the reporting and remediation process so that it is easier for victims of identity theft to get their lives back on track.”

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