LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum and a coalition of 29 other attorneys general in sending a letter to the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday, urging the FTC to continue its identity theft rules. 

The letter cites the proliferation of identity theft in many states, and the growth in technology since the rules were adopted in November 2007.

 The letter can be read here.

The current rules require certain financial institutions and businesses that grant credit or issue debit or credit cards to take steps to detect, prevent and mitigate identify theft by implementing reasonable safeguards. 

The letter also suggested adding a requirement that cardholders must be notified by email or cell phone if an email address or cell phone number is changed. This is in addition to the existing requirement to mail notification upon change of account address. 

The attorneys general also ask that suspicious account activity also include account access by new and previously unknown devices and repeated unsuccessful access attempts.

“These rules appropriately focus on detecting, preventing and mitigating identity theft and are especially important to Michiganders,” Nessel said. “Unlike many states, Michigan does not have a data protection statute. We must do all we can to protect the data of Michigan residents and businesses.”

The letter, written on letterhead from Rosenblum’s office, was also signed by attorneys general from Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.