The Department of Justice is responsible for receiving and prosecuting cases of identity theft and fraud under a variety of federal statutes. In the fall of 1998, for example, Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act.  This legislation created a new offense of identity theft, which prohibits:

Knowingly transferring or using, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law.

18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(7). This offense, in most circumstances, carries a maximum term of 15 years' imprisonment, a fine, and criminal forfeiture of any personal property used or intended to be used to commit the offense.

Schemes to commit identity theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1028), credit card fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1029), computer fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1030), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), or financial institution fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344). Each of these federal offenses are felonies that carry substantial penalties ­ in some cases, as high as 30 years' imprisonment, fines, and criminal forfeiture.

Federal prosecutors work with federal investigative agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service to prosecute identity theft and fraud cases.

While Massachusetts has no specific laws designed to punish the would be Identity Thief, it does have several laws that punish criminals for fraudulent use of credit cards, bank checks, etc.

MGL. C.266 S.37 deals with the using and uttering of fraudulent bank checks and unauthorized use of credit cards.

MGL C.266 S.37 (b) proscribes penalties for posing as another person and using their personal information.

MGL C.266 S.37 (c) makes it illegal to obtain personal identifying information about another person for the purpose of using that information to commit fraud.

The down side to all of these laws is that the majority of them are only misdemeanors and carry little jail time and a fine of up to $5000.00.  However, a violation of C. 266. S.37 does carry a mandatory requirement whereby the criminal, upon conviction is ordered to pay restitution to the victim.