Canadian Bankers Call for Tougher Laws on Identity Theft

In Canada - an Identity Thief must be caught using stolen personal information before they can be charged with a offense. The Canadian Bankers Association is pushing to make it a crime to possess stolen personal information.

Reuters is reporting:

Police should be able to arrest people for possessing the materials used in identity fraud, such as blank credit cards, just as they can now charge someone with possessing burglary tools such as lock picks, the group said.

Association president Raymond Protti said police now have to wait until stolen personal information is actually used to commit a fraud, such as buying something on a fake credit card, before arrests can be made.

Link, here.

Sounds logical to me.

Making the laws tougher in Canada would protect people in the United States, also. A lot of the lottery and secret shopper scams (I've seen) originate from Canada.