Secret Service, Citicorp Team to Fight Fraud

The U.S. Secret Service and Citicorp, a unit of New York-based Citigroup, are working together to develop a pilot program to fight identity theft and other types of e-commerce fraud, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.

The announcement was made at the two-day National Summit on Identity Theft convened by Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers yesterday. The summit includes more than 150 participants from federal, state and local government agencies; financial institutions; credit-card companies and reporting agencies; as well as identity theft victims and consumer advocacy groups.

"Criminals are exploiting new technologies to make a significant profit from an old crime," Summers said in the statement. "We will continue to work with the private sector to strengthen our efforts to combat this threat."

The program being developed by the Secret Service and Citicorp will devise a strategy to identify suspicious e-commerce activities, including forged identities and other schemes used to commit bank and credit fraud.

At yesterday's summit, Summers also said that the Secret Service is developing a computer-based training program to help law enforcement officials handle financial crimes.