Synthetic Identity Theft Officially Illegal in Indiana

For those of our readers not familiar with the term “Synthetic Identity Theft” it works much like BitTorrent in the music piracy world — meaning that bad guys combine parts of the identities of into a hybrid, fictional person in order to commit fraud. Well, Indiana has ruled that Synthetic Identity Theft is a felony punishable by six months to three years.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller had this to say on Tuesday about the new law: “With the downturn in the economy, criminals have become relentless in their efforts to steal the identities of consumers and fraudulently open lines of credit. Identity theft is devastating to victims and can take months or years to untangle.”

This new state law also increases the penalties for database owners who discard consumers’ personal data, such as Social Security numbers, in a way that could subject them to identity theft. Database owners could face a $5,000 per incident, and have to notify the attorney general’s office, as well as consumers, if a security breach occurs.

Way to go Indiana.