Texas is the first state to offer a system to catch identity thieves early on.

Closed Account Notification System alerts merchants when a check is written from an account that was closed due to identity theft. The clerk will instantly know that the store patron is a thief and not to accept the check.

State Democratic Rep. Helen Giddings, of DeSoto, authored House Bill 2002 with the help of Banking Commissioner Randall James, which brought the system to the state.

"This system is the first of its kind in the nation," Giddings said. "This is on the cutting edge and a significant step in identity theft."

With the old system, it took weeks to notify stores of the fraudulent activity.

"Thieves are stopped in their tracks," Giddings said. "No longer will identity thieves be able to profit from their crimes by passing bad checks for weeks."

James said the program was launched on March 1 and that 540 banks have subscribed to the service and registered with the Texas Banking Commission. Customers of these banks will be protected from theft after closing their accounts. There is no cost for banks to enroll in the system. James said there have been 71 reported cases since the program's launch.

"[The system] covers all the legal and practical aspects of identity theft," he said.

Giddings said this is a significant step in fighting identity theft and will save Texans millions of dollars.

"Identity theft exacts its greatest cost on the victim through the accumulation of negative information in the customer's consumer credit report files," she said.

Giddings said merchants who accept fraudulent checks only add to the burden of the victims trying to restore their good credit.

"I am proud that Texas is on the cutting edge of fighting identity theft and think other states will soon follow," Giddings said.

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