Identity Theft

What's New

New Jersey’s landmark identity theft law is about to get better.

When the Identity Theft Prevention Act took effect January 1, 2006, New Jerseyans gained some of the strongest identity theft protections in the country. Nonetheless, one of the critical protections—the Security Freeze—was not as useful as intended by the law because regulations requiring it to be consumer-friendly had not been issued. As a result, using a security freeze to protect your identity from new account fraud meant you had to give up access to instant credit. Since an identity thief can use your personal information to instantly open a new account in your name, the lack of regulations means it’s easier for a thief to steal your identity than it is for you to protect it. Now the Division of Consumer Affairs has proposed regulations that would make New Jersey’s security freeze the easiest to use in the country, and would enable New Jerseyans to protect themselves and keep access to instant credit.

Overview

Identity theft is a terrible and growing problem, largely because your personal information is a hot commodity. If companies who gather, share and sell your data jealously guarded it, perhaps their activities would be harmless. As business practices now stand, however, you are constantly at risk of easily preventable identity theft.

Identity theft comes in many forms. One of the most painful types of financial identity theft is new account fraud, when the thief opens a new account—a credit card, a car loan, a mortgage—in your name, makes no payments, and destroys your credit, usually without you knowing until the creditor comes to collect. A more common type of identity theft is existing account fraud, when thieves steal from your bank account or go shopping with your existing credit cards. Thankfully, New Jerseyans are no longer completely exposed to these threats.
In June, 2005, NJ unanimously enacted the comprehensive Identity Theft Prevention Act. Although identity theft, like all crime, cannot be completely "solved," new account fraud can be prevented and existing account fraud can be minimized. The Identity Theft Protection Act works to minimize existing account fraud by changing how business is done, and gives you the security freeze so you can prevent new account fraud from happening to you. Click here to learn more about the security freeze.

In addition to the Security Freeze, there are a few other steps you can take to protect yourself from identity theft.