Makes identity theft against a person age sixty-five or older a class D felony

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to making identity theft against a person age sixty-five or older a class D felony

Purpose

This bill creates increased penalties for those who commit the crime of identity theft against senior citizens.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 -- Adds a new subparagraph 5 to section 190.80 of the Penal Law This new subparagraph establishes a class D felony for those who obtain goods, money, property or services or uses the credit in the name of a person age sixty-five or older or causes financial loss to a person age sixty-five or older;

Section 2 -- This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.

Existing law

Currently, a violation of identity theft is divided into three degrees, with no aggravating factors based on the age of the victim.

Justification

According to a national survey conducted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the number of identity theft victims in 2002 approached 10 million, including 663,300 New Yorkers. In February, the Federal Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse reported that 38 percent of all fraud claims in 2004 related to identity theft, and New York State ranked seventh in the nation in per-capita identity theft reports.

Victims may not find out that they have had their identity stolen until they are contacted by a debt collector, or review their credit report(s) or a credit card statement and notice charges that they didn't make. Identity theft is serious crime and seniors are especially vulnerable to identity theft, often due in part to health problems, isolation, and due in some measure to their alienation from the technological/informational flow with which personal financial records are inextricably linked.

Thieves also target seniors as they tend to be more financially solvent than younger age groups, and are often more apt, through action or inaction, to reveal personally identifiable information. Also, as seniors are often less connected to the Internet or apt to periodically review their credit reports with the major credit reporting agencies, the victims of such crimes often don't know that the crime has been committed until much later, if at all, and may not know to whom to report it to.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Local fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.