Archive for September, 2009

Nebraska DMV Uses New System to Combat ID Theft

Friday, September 11th, 2009

According to JournalStar.com, the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles recently launched a new driver’s licensing system, which has led to 41 investigations into identity theft or fraud.

DMV director Beverly Neth says that the facial recognition system implemented when the system changed has been reviewing every picture in the DMV system every night, comparing former ID photos with ones taken since the system changed. Staff members are also now checking new pictures against old ones when new photos are being taken.

These changes have led to 41 investigations. “The technology we’ve installed is a powerful tool that can help combat fraud and identity theft in Nebraska,” Neth said.

For instance, the nightly system searching found one person who was using three different Social Security numbers, one belonging to a dead person. Another resulted in the DMV fraud unit contacting the person whose identity had been stolen, only to learn the identity thief had “racked up a $100,000 bill for unpaid taxes with the IRS,” Neth said.