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Specific identity theft offences were introduced into Australian law when amendments to the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 were proclaimed in 2004.

The South Australian Parliament passed legislation to create four new offences specifically targeting those who use, or intend to use, a false identity to commit a serious crime. Additionally, the person whose identity has been stolen is officially recognised as a ‘victim'. This will assist in the process of reinstatement of their financial credit records and reputation.

Accordingly, two Acts were amended.

1. The South Australian Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 includes specific offences relating to identity theft.These are:

• Assuming a false identity or falsely pretending to have particular qualifications to be entitled to act in a particular capacity and intending to commit or help commit a serious criminal offence;

• Making use of another's personal identification information intending to commit or help commit a serious criminal offence;

• Possessing or producing material that would enable someone to assume a false identity or exercise a false right of ownership intending to use it or allow another to use it for a criminal purpose; and

• Possessing equipment for making material that would enable someone to assume a false identity or exercise a false right of ownership intending to use it to commit one of these offences.

Note that these offences will not apply to under-age persons who attempt to enter age-restricted venues or purchase age-restricted items, such as cigarettes or alcohol.

2. Secondly, the amendment to the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act gives victims the right to a certificate from a court so that they can prove than an offence has been committed against them. This is not strictly limited to identity theft offences, but to the relevant offence, eg forgery.

Legislation

Various State and Commonwealth laws include numerous offences involving deception, dishonesty and manipulation of documents. Some entail general crimes of dishonesty while others involve specific offences such as opening a bank account in a false name, gaining unauthorised access to computers or impersonating a police officer.

In South Australia offences relating to fraudulent conversion and false pretences are covered under the following sections of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935:

• 134 Theft

• 138 Money laundering

• 139 Deception

• 140 Dishonest dealing with documents

• 141 Dishonest manipulation of machines

• 142 Dishonest exploitation of a position of advantage

• 144 Identity theft

A range of fraud offences are also covered under the Commonwealth Criminal Code including:

• Obtaining property by deception

• Obtaining a financial advantage by deception

• General dishonesty

• Conspiracy to defraud

• Forgery

• Using forged documents

• Falsification of documents

The Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 covers the offence of opening an account in a false name or making misleading statements when changing the account name. The Regulations under this Act detail the 100-point value system used by the financial institutions for verification of identity. This allocates a value to specific personal documents depending on their level of security.

The Cybercrime Act 2001 was introduced to prosecute identity-related frauds through the misuse of computers where a person gains access to a computer without authorisation.

Additionally, the handling and storage of personal information is comprehensively covered by the Privacy Act 1988, but very much from the perspective of the protection of personal privacy. Its effect on information theft is incidental.

Resources

Links about identity theft

Legislation for identity theft

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