Virginia Identity Theft

Virginia’s Attorney General Bob McDonnel has a good outline and FAQ on identity theft issues in Virginia. 

From the AG’s site:

In Virginia, identity theft is a serious crime.  Currently, an identity thief whose crime results in financial loss up to $200 faces a misdemeanor conviction and confinement for not more than 12 months and/or a maximum fine of $2,500.  An identity thief whose crime results in financial loss greater than $200, faces a felony conviction and a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years.  For more details, please refer to §18.2-186.3 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. 

 See the whole site: VA Attorney General ID Theft

The Fairfax County, VA, Police have further information too, Fairfax Police

Also, check The Consumer Law Group, Richmond, VA, at  Consumer Law Group

The Washington Post has an excellent section on its website about identity theft and ways to protect your identity and personal information.  See Washington Post ID Theft 

Meanwhile, hold tight to your personal information.

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Federal Trade Commission–Identity Theft Study

FTC Releases Survey of Identity Theft in the U.S. Study Shows 8.3 Million Victims in 2005

The Federal Trade Commission today released a survey showing that 8.3 million American adults, or 3.7 percent of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005. Of the victims, 3.2 million, or 1.4 percent of all adults, experienced misuse of their existing credit card accounts; 3.3 million, or 1.5 percent, experienced misuse of non-credit card accounts; and 1.8 million victims, or 0.8 percent, found that new accounts were opened or other frauds were committed using their personal identifying information.

See full text of news release and download a copy of the report:

FTC ID Theft

Bill Lowrance

President PIAVA

president@piava.org

Wired Wednesday

Wired — meaning wary, watchful, wide-awake.   

Hey, wired is the descriptive term for today’s mishmash of posts.

First:

Business mileage rates

IRS released the new 2008 optional standard mileage rates for business, charitable, medical/moving purposes.   yesterday announced (Rev, Proc. 2007-70, (attached). 

Rates are: 

50.5 cents per mile for business miles driven (compared to 48.5 cents per mile in 2007)
19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes (20 cents in 2007)
14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations (unchanged from 2007)

Our favorite–Pellicano, PI to the Hollywood Stars

LA Times reports that a federal judge agreed to hold a hearing to explore defense allegations of government misconduct in the wiretapping prosecution of LA private investigator to the stars, Anthony Pellicano.  Pellicano’s attorneys argued that the federal prosecutors and the FBI violated Pellicano’s constitution rights by using his ex-girlfriend to get confidential information from him while in prison without his attorney’s knowledge.  See whole story Pellicano Story (may require registration).

Federal Prosecutors Subpoena to Amazon–Then Step Back

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Post Amazon, reports that a federal prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena that asked Amazon.com to identify thousands of used book buyers.  Recently court records were unsealed revealing this story.  It seems that last year federal prosecutors, as part of a grand jury investigation, issued the subpoena to Amazon as part of an investigation of a seller of used books on Amazon.  The seller is Robert D’Angelo.  He was indicted on fraud, money laundering and tax evasion charges.

As part of the investigation prosecutors wanted Amazon to turn over identities of thousands of used book buyers.  Well, the federal judge said ruled that such customers have a First Amendment right to keep their reading habits private from the government.  “The chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost the keyboards across America” wrote US Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker in a June ruling.  “Well founded or not, rumors of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon’s customers would frighten countless potential customers into canceling planned online book purchases.”

The subpoena sought records of 24,000 transactions dating from 1999.  The US Attorney said he doubted the ruling would hamper legitimate investigations.  Is he saying that the original investigations were illegitimate???

Oh, well, more to come later today. Keep “askin” questions out there.

Bill Lowrance
President PIAVA
president@piava.org