Identity theft is a growing problem in Maine.

In 2004, 424 state residents reported that their identity had been stolen. That was up from 353 in 2003 and 306 in 2002. The numbers underestimate the depth of the problem. Because the data is collected by the Federal Trade Commission, which relies on self-reporting but doesn’t actually investigate the reports, the real number of victims is likely much higher.

There are a lot of things that consumers can do to help protect themselves, as the Sun Journal reported April 17: Don’t carry your Social Security card, don’t give out personal information over the telephone or Internet, check your credit report yearly and destroy important paperwork before throwing it out.

But such efforts only work against certain kinds of criminals – the relatively low-tech Dumpster divers and pickpockets. Hackers, con artists and industry insiders pose a huge threat to consumers, whose personal information is mined by a number of large, national corporations that profit by selling the data.

ChoicePoint and LexisNexis are two examples. LexisNexis announced that more than 320,000 of its data files had been stolen. ChoicePoint lost control of data on at least 145,000 people. Of those, at least 257 live in Maine. California, which often leads the country with consumer protection laws, requires that companies report thefts and warn people that their information could be in the hands of criminals. Otherwise, we might never have learned of the thefts.

National regulations on data brokers and credit reporting agencies are needed. Consumers need more protections and should be guaranteed more control over their information.

It can take thieves just a few moments to swipe someone’s identity. But the horror stories and ruined credit can take years to escape. We shouldn’t wait until the next example of massive theft is found out before we act. Consumers deserve better protections now.