The group, calling itself the Coalition on Online Identity Theft, said it will work as an information-sharing hub aimed at heading off ID theft schemes. It also said it will lobby government for effective laws in that area, and promote consumer education projects.
Identity theft is taken to mean the practices of fraudulently obtaining enough personal information about a user, such as credit card or social security numbers, to impersonate them in online and offline transactions.
Customers of e-commerce companies, including coalition members eBay Inc and Amazon.com Inc, have repeatedly fallen victim to scams where fraudsters send email or set up official-looking web sites, in order to harvest usernames and passwords.
The coalition will be lead by the Information Technology Association of America. Founding members also include Microsoft, VeriSign, Zone Labs, McAfee Security, TechNet, Visa USA, WholeSecurity, and the Business Software Alliance.
In a statement issued by the ITAA, the companies said they will coordinate efforts with fraud-investigating US government agencies including the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, as well as law enforcement.
Source: Computerwire
