The U.S. government seems to be finally paying attention to identity theft. John Ashcroft, U.S. Attorney General and Senator Diane Feinstein of California held a press conference pushing for Congress to pass legislation that would increase the punishment for identity theft offenders. The pending legislation would increase prison time for convicted offenders and make it a crime to be in possession of someone else's ID info with the intent to commit a felony.

How are thieves punished today? The median time served in prison for people convicted of identity theft in 2001 was:
- 13 months for cases investigated by the Secret Service
- 7 months for cases handled by the FBI.
- About a third of those convicted were not sent to prison.