Those receiving letters would be requested to confirm or deny the request for a duplicate license by calling a specific toll free telephone number to a central processing unit. One recent victim asked for a new driver s license number almost one year ago. The supervisor, eager to show her the new number, read it out loud, in the middle of the office, where dozens of DMV visitors could overhear. This would avoid the issue of who should help the victim the local office or the one that processed the fraudulent application. This number should be manned by trained fraud investigators familiar with identity theft.
Victims then can forward that information to all investigative agencies involved in the case.
This would allow for better communication between the DMV and law enforcement and would lead to more arrests and less misarrests. Clearly, many of the problems we ve heard about today are far too complex for simple solutions. Our concern is the integrity of the driver s license. It must stop becoming a tool for identity theft. Our second concern is that victims must not continue to be re-victimized this time by the DMV, the very agency they had the right to believe would help and support them.