Oklahoma Takes Strict Legislative Measures to Prevent Child Identity Theft
The Senate of Oklahoma has approved a bill to take strict measures against those involved in the identity theft of a child. Now harsher penalties will be applied to those found stealing the identity of a victim who is less than 18 years of age.
A child identity theft study was conducted in 2018 which revealed that up to one million children in the U.S have been a victim of identity theft. This resulted in a loss of $2.67 billion. $540 million were lost in the family’s out-of-pocket expenses.
The study suggests that almost two-thirds of the victims were younger than 7 years of age.
Senator of Oklahoma, George Burns, says, “Identity theft is a widespread issue, but very few people realize how prevalent child identity theft is in our society. Oftentimes, the theft isn’t discovered until the child reaches adulthood and attempts to open loans or credit accounts in their own name. It’s even more unfortunate when the perpetrator is the child’s own parent or family member. We must crackdown on this type of theft.”
The Child Identity Theft Resource Center revealed that various parents have found that their child’s identity was compromised when they were refused stimulus checks. This happened as the child’s social security number was already in use.
Senator Burns also says: “Studies have shown that nearly two-thirds of child identity theft victims are under the age of seven. Unfortunately, I’ve even heard the tragic stories of the perpetrator being in the victim’s immediate family. We must hold these criminals accountable for their actions.”
Senate Bill 312 has been created by Senator George Burns and according to the bill, criminals involved in child identity theft will have to face harsher penalties. The penalty for child identity theft mentioned by the proposed bill is either two to ten years in prison or a fine of $100,000, or both prison time and fine.
The current law penalizes the identity thief or fraudsters with one to five years in prison or with a fine that does not exceed $100,000. The proposed bill has been passed to the full Oklahoma House of Representatives for further implementation requirements.
