Firms hit hard by identity theft

Government agencies and private corporations are also vulnerable to identity theft, and they often suffer greater losses than the client whose personal information was stolen, authorities said yesterday.

"The institutions are being duped just like you would be if your information was stolen," said Ken Jones, inspector in charge for the regional Postal Inspection Service, which investigates instances of mail fraud leading to identity theft.

When credit card or bank account numbers are stolen from corporations such as credit agencies, it is often the institutions, and not private citizens, who are hit the hardest, Jones said.

While it's difficult to pin down an exact dollar amount lost when identity thieves strike such institutions, Jones said 20 cases that have been proposed for federal prosecution involve $300,000 to $1 million in losses each.

Jones spoke yesterday from the regional headquarters of the Postal Inspection Service Division in South Boston, where local, state, and national authorities reported the complete fiscal year findings of the Massachusetts Identity Theft/Financial Crimes Task Force.

From Oct. 1 to June 30, the task force made 262 arrests in New England -- 149 of them in Massachusetts -- in connection with identity theft. Jones said 179 investigations are pending in Massachusetts.

"Our workload continues to increase," Jones said.

Added Kevin Kiley of the Massachusetts Bankers Association: "Much still needs to be done, but the statistics today bear out that this effort is paying off,"

Kiley said his group and the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police plan to unveil an identity-theft protocol in the fall that would improve police training and allow citizens to go directly to police departments across the state to report identity theft.

The information could then be fed directly to the task force.

US Attorney Michael Sullivan, who has taken a personal interest in prosecuting local identity thieves, said the biggest challenge lies in identifying and locating thieves, including those who have graduated from stealing wallets and checks to looking over a person's shoulder as he or she enters ATM pin numbers, known as "shoulder surfing."

"Identity thieves have expanded their horizons," Sullivan said. "Identity theft is one of the most rapidly and evolving crimes in the country."

The Social Security Administration recently reported that identity theft-related complaints have increased from under 8,000 in 1991 to more than 65,000 in 2001.

Authorities hoped yesterday the identity theft task force, which recently acquired 2,500 square feet of extra office space in Boston for investigators, can better coordinate the ever-multiplying volume of crime incidents to identify ringleaders.

Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole and State Police Colonel Thomas Robbins, who have investigators on the task force, both vowed their continued assistance to the task force yesterday.

"We've come to realize in law enforcement that the only way we can be truly effective is if we harness our resources, whether we're planning for the DNC or investigating identify fraud," O'Toole said at the news conference.

"It's a team effort that leads to success."

Jack Encarnacao can be reached at jencarnacao@globe.com.