Identity Theft is commonly charged in Fort Collins and Larimer County when a person uses someone else’s information to purchase items or obtain cash. Recently, an article was published regarding an uptick in a certain type of Identity Theft – Child Identity Theft. According to the article, someone will use the identifying information of a child (name and social security number) to open lines of credit or credit cards and then make purchases. Children obviously have clean credit records and it’s not common practice to monitor a child’s credit history, because the assumption is that they don’t have any history or current accounts to monitor. Once the card is obtained, it becomes easy to make purchases, seeing as most businesses don’t really have any security measures in check. Plus, if someone stole the information to open the card, they would be the ones to sign the back and set up any pin, so they would likely get through any security measures anyways. However, if someone is caught with financial devices (credit or bank cards) and those cards are not in their names, they will be facing Identity Theft charges.
Larimer County Identity Theft Lawyer: Definition of Child Identity Theft in Colorado
The Larimer County, Colorado law definition of Identity Theft – C.R.S. 18-5-902 – is:
(a) Knowingly uses the personal identifying information, financial identifying information, or financial device of another without permission or lawful authority with the intent to obtain cash, credit, property, services, or any other thing of value or to make a financial payment;
(b) Knowingly possesses the personal identifying information, financial identifying information, or financial device of another without permission or lawful authority, with the intent to use or to aid or permit some other person to use such information or device to obtain cash, credit, property, services, or any other thing of value or to make a financial payment;
(c) With the intent to defraud, falsely makes, completes, alters, or utters a written instrument or financial device containing any personal identifying information or financial identifying information of another;
(d) Knowingly possesses the personal identifying information or financial identifying information of another without permission or lawful authority to use in applying for or completing an application for a financial device or other extension of credit;
(e) Knowingly uses or possesses the personal identifying information of another without permission or lawful authority with the intent to obtain a government-issued document
For the Child Identity Theft, most likely the person using the child’s information to open and use a credit card would be (d) for the application and (a) for using the card.
Sentence for Identity Theft in Loveland and Estes Park
In Fort Collins, Loveland, and Estes Park, Identity Theft is a class 4 felony. This level felony is punishable by 2 to 6 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections and up to $500,000 in fines.
If you or someone you love has been charged with Identity Theft, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and contact the best criminal defense attorneys from the O’Malley Law Office at 970-658-0007 to schedule your free initial consultation. Together, we can protect your future.
Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels