APRI Highlights - Winter 2003

Identity Theft, Fraud and the Elderly Victims

Sean Morgan, Program Manager and Senior Attorney, White Collar Crime Program

APRI’s White Collar Crime Program (WCCP) has been working on a number of exciting projects to help prosecutors and other law enforcement professionals investigate and prosecute identity theft and abuse of the elderly, both physically and financially.

APRI and NDAA launched the inaugural Identity Theft course at the National Advocacy Center on October 15-18, 2002. Course modules included a panel discussion on state/local/federal cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of identity theft with panelists from the FBI, US Secret Service, US Postal Inspection Service, INS, Social Security Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission; demonstration of the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel database; computer labs on NeoTrace and identity theft hacking; and collaboration with the private sector, with representatives from VISA, AOL-Time Warner, and TransUnion.

The WCCP also is developing resources to help prosecutors combat physical and financial abuse of the elderly. The WCCP has conducted a state-by-state review of criminal elder abuse statutes. These statutes are now being compiled into a table for easy reference. Four cutting edge issues were identified in the WCCP’s review of case law relevant to physical and financial elder abuse: admissibility of elder victims’ hearsay statements; criminal liability for elder abuse; criminal elder abuse statutes and the void for vagueness doctrine; and mens rea in elder abuse cases. APRI plans to publish a series of monographs discussing these issues from a practical and prosecutorial perspective.

Another WCCP monograph in production will describe the experience of four demonstration sites in combating telemarketing fraud through both consumer education and enforcement. This publication will be especially useful for prosecutors’ offices considering establishing their own telemarketing fraud prevention programs.

In addition, the WCCP is expanding its focus and expertise from traditional telemarketing fraud to include telecommunications fraud using computers and the Internet. This fall, the WCCP expects to host an invitational symposium to determine state and local prosecutors’ needs in terms of technical assistance and training in the investigation and prosecution of telecommunications fraud including traditional telemarketing fraud, Internet fraud and identity theft.

For more information about APRI’s White Collar Crime Program, please contact us at (703) 549-4253 or whitecollar@ndaa-apri.org.