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The Department of Justice prosecutes cases of identity theft and credit fraud under a variety of federal statutes. In the fall of 1998, for example, Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act.

This legislation created a new offense of identity theft, which prohibits knowingly transfer[ring] or us[ing], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or To Aid or Abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law.

This offense, in most circumstances, carries a maximum term of 15 Years Imprisonment, a fine, and criminal forfeiture of any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offense.

Schemes to Commit Identity Theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud, credit card fraud, computer fraud mail fraud ,wire fraud or financial institution fraud. Each of these federal offenses are felonies that carry substantial penalties & shy; in some cases, as high as 30 years' imprisonment, fines, and criminal forfeiture.

Federal prosecutors work with federal investigative agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service to prosecute identity theft and fraud cases.

Examples of the crime include these. A woman pleaded Guilty to Federal Charges of using a Stolen Social Security number to obtain thousands of dollars in credit and then filing for bankruptcy in the name of her victim.

A man obtained Private Bank Account Information about an insurance company's policyholders and using that information to deposit $764,000 in counterfeit checks into a bank account he established.

Two of three defendants have pleaded guilty to identity theft, bank fraud, and related charges for their roles in a scheme to open bank accounts with both real and Fake Identification Documents, deposit U.S. Treasury checks that were stolen from the mail, and withdraw funds from those accounts. A defendant has been indicted on bank fraud charges for obtaining names, addresses, and Social Security numbers from a Web site and using those data to apply for a series of car loans over the Internet.