The AJC reports today that an Atlanta man has pled guilty for stealing $1.5 million in credit from 225 people. He was sentenced to 3 ½ years in the federal penitentiary.
I commend the officers involved in catching this man, especially because his capture led to the uncovering of a multi-national scam. Many of the cards issued were from foreign banks so the true credit limit available to him couldn’t be tracked.
Some other interesting cases going on are in Kansas where a few Mexican nationals attempted to transfer Social Security funds acquired under fake identities to their other real, or fake, identities. One person has already been convicted and will hear sentencing in September. He faces up to 10 years in jail for fraud of documents and a minimum of 2 years for identity theft of 7 different people. In the other cases, the people pled not guilty and will go to trial but the dates have not been set yet.
About to go before the U.S. Congress is a bill designed to help deter identity theft by putting tighter restrictions on the use of social security numbers. In it, there are tougher punishments for those convicted of misuse of social security numbers. Specifically it will
Impose criminal penalties up to five years in prison and $250,000 and civil sanctions up to $25,000 per incident for misuse of Social Security numbers. Repeat offenders could get 10 years, and use of the numbers in drug trafficking or violent acts would carry sentences up to 20 years in prison.
The bill has already passed the Ways and Means Committee, 38-0. Now it’s on to the House.
Since the South is already in “back to school” mode, here’s a reminder on “How A Bill Becomes A Law” from Schoolhouse Rock…
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ]
