Hell's Angels and Meth Gangs Pilfering Your ID?

The White House identity theft task force on Monday released a dense 120-page report (.pdf) about the burgeoning ID theft crisis. Only passing reference is made to the fact that in recent years the federal government has exposed the sensitive personal information of tens of millions of Americans by failing to secure databases, losing computers and other widespread buffoonery. Indeed, government incompetence may enable ID thieves more than anything else. But let's not worry too much about that. Instead, let's worry about the old bugaboo of drugs and gangs, that hundred-carat headline. Yes, according to the White House, the Menace is loose again. Read on:

A number of recent reports have focused on the connection between individual methamphetamine users and identity theft. Law enforcement agencies in Albuquerque, Honolulu, Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle, and other cities have reported that meth addicts are engaging in identity and data theft through burglaries, mail theft, and theft of wallets and purses. In Salt Lake City, meth users reportedly are organized by white-supremacist gangs to commit identity theft. Tellingly, as meth use has risen sharply in recent years, especially in the western United States, some of the same jurisdictions reporting the highest levels of meth use also suffer from the highest incidence of identity theft. Some state law enforcement officials believe that the two increases might be related, and that identity theft may serve as a major funding mechanism for meth labs and purchases.

Law enforcement agencies around the country have observed a steady increase in the involvement of groups and organizations of repeat offenders or career criminals in identity theft. Some of these groups—including national gangs such as Hell’s Angels and MS-13—are formally organized, have a hierarchical structure, and are well-known to law enforcement because of their longstanding involvement in other major crimes such as drug trafficking.