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Tougher safeguards sought against identity theft

SPRINGFIELD - Thirty-one state attorneys general, including Illinois' Kwame Raoul, are advocating for tougher safeguards against identity theft in the Federal Trade Commission's rule book.

"We must keep in place federal protections for consumers to guard against identity theft and protect their finances," Raoul said Thursday, Feb. 14.

In 2017, 16.7 million U.S. consumers were victims of identity fraud and theft totaling $16.8 billion, according to a letter sent to the FTC by the attorneys general.

These numbers are so high, they write, because not only are consumers increasingly unaware of just where their information is, but because identity thieves can so easily collect consumer data from broad breaches.

In their letter, they write that one of the best indicators of identity fraud is when an email or cellphone number is changed at the same time as a physical address, or when a replacement credit card, for example, is requested as well. They argue that companies should be required to notify consumers when this happens at their old addresses and phone numbers.

The attorneys general also advocate for more multifactor identification rules, which require two or more pieces of evidence to work - a card number along with a fingerprint, for example, or a password along with a secret-token USB stick.