Personal Injury Law

Illinois Issues New Driver's Licenses to Deter Identity Theft

By Hurley, McKenna & Murtz

The State of Illinois has designed new driver's licenses and state identity cards to prevent identity theft and fraud. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois driver's licenses will now feature a second, smaller photo of the cardholder, duplication of the date of birth and microtext that requires a magnifying glass to read and is difficult to copy or duplicate electronically. The goal of the new features is to deter counterfeiters.

Victims of the growing problem of identity theft have legal duties of their own when dealing with the consequences of fraud, especially unauthorized transfers of funds. While credit card holders are protected by issuer rules that allow holders to refuse to pay fraudulent charges, "Regulation E," the FDIC's consumer protection rule governing electronic funds transfers and debit cards, states that consumers must report an electronic funds transfer problem within two days to protect themselves from liability for the unauthorized withdrawal. Consumers who report a problem within 2 days are liable for $50, while those who report the problem within 60 days have their liability capped at $500. People who wait report a problem may lose the protection of federal law, and be stuck with a total loss of the funds.

As noted by this MSNBC report, victims of identity theft often become the targets of banks and financial institutions looking to hold the victim liable for losses, especially when there has been a delay in reporting fraud. If you have suffered substantial losses due to identity theft, you may need to retain a lawyer if you want to get financial institutions to take responsibility for your losses.

Full post as published by Illinois Car and Truck Accident Lawyer Blog on October 23, 2007 (boomark / email).