FBI, DOJ Falling Short on Identity Theft: Report

“An audit by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector
General reveals that while the FBI and Justice Department have made
“various efforts” to fight identity theft crimes in recent years,
these initiatives have “faded as priorities” mainly because the
agencies have failed to develop a coordinated plan to deal with
what’s become an epidemic of cybercrimes.

“The audit (PDF format) is the most recent and comprehensive
review of federal law enforcement’s efforts to uphold The Identity
Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998, a statute passed
during President George W. Bush’s second term that made identity
theft a federal crime.

“And while there have been a handful of high-profile identity
theft arrests and convictions, the OIG report found that the number
of defendants both charged and convicted of identity theft actually
decreased between 2008 and 2009, despite the fact that the several
independent surveys and reports show a dramatic increase in both
the number of people and dollars lost to online identity theft
scams.”

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