Attorney General pleads Illinois to crack down on identity theft

Following the fraudulent charges against two women from Chicago, Illinois, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has requested that the state show increased alertness for identity theft across the state, The Muscatine Journal reports. "The defendants in these cases stole the identities of dozens of unsuspecting consumers and racked up thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges," Madigan said. "Identity theft is a serious crime that can affect victims and their financial security for years. My office is here to help consumers protect their financial information or to assist them if they’ve been a victim of ID theft." Over the past year, Madigan's office received more than 3,800 identity theft complaints. Instances of fraudulent activity included unauthorized credit card charges and account activity. Illinois has the tenth most instances of identity theft per 100,000 population in the United States, according to Federal Trade Commission, and the 23rd most cases of fraud. The FTC receives more complaints about identity theft than any other crime. Nearly 20 percent of the complaints received by the FTC in 2010 were related to identity theft, while the next closest category was debt collection at just over 10 percent.