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AEQUEST FOR, COUNCIL ACTION <br />Department Approval <br />Item Description: Adopt an Identify Theft Prevention Program <br />Date: 11/10/08 <br />Item No.: 7.f <br />City Manager Approval <br />1� BACKGROUND <br />2 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in conjunction with other federal agencies, recently adopted new <br />1 3 identity theft protection measures which require all creditors, including municipal utility providers, to <br />41 develop an "Identity Theft Prevention Program". Municipal utility providers meet the FTC's definition of a <br />5 creditor because we provide services (water and sewer) up front with the intent to collect monies at a later <br />6 date. Because we collect monies aft er we provide the service, we are in effect extending credit to each <br />7 utility customer - albeit for a short period of time. <br />As it applies to municipal utility providers, the purpose of the Identify Theft Prevention Program is to <br />i� r), protect against the establishment of false accounts and ensure existing accounts are not being manipulated. <br />iri� The Program is intended to identify red flags that will alert employees when utility accounts are created or <br />1� 2 modified using false information, and to provide measures to respond to these events. <br />i�,i The attached Program summary satisfies the FTC's mandate on establishing an Identity Theft Prevention <br />1� 5 Program. <br />1� 7 It should be noted, that the policies and procedures outlined in the attached Program have been in place for <br />1 f many years. However, to comply with the federal requirements we have re-packaged them into a different <br />1 format. To date, City Staff is unaware of any occurrences or attempts to commit identity theft involving <br />2o any City operation. <br />21 POLICY OBJECTIVE <br />22 Adopting an Identity Theft Prevention Program complies with the federal mandate, and compliments the <br />23 City's existing fraud prevention policies and procedures. <br />2,1 FINANCIAL IMPACTS <br />25 Not applicable. <br />26 STAFF RECOMMENDATION <br />27 Staff recommends that the City Council adopt, by resolution, the attached Identity Theft Prevention <br />28 Program. <br />Page I of 4 <br />