Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, along with a bi-partisan coalition of 30 other attorneys general, has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging changes to strengthen current identity theft rules to better protect consumers.

The letter is in response to the FTC’s December request for comment on whether modifications should be made to rules that require financial institutions and businesses that grant credit or issue debit or credit cards to take steps to detect, prevent and mitigate identify theft with reasonable safeguards.

Hunter said the rules were adopted in November 2007 and need to change to adapt to modern technology.

“Advances in technology are allowing con-artists to come up with more sophisticated schemes,” Hunter said. “The FTC needs to modernize its rules to stay ahead of the game. Our suggested changes will better protect consumers from identity theft. My fellow attorneys general and I recommend the FTC act without delay to implement updated rules to combat this widespread crime that continues to cause serious harm to individuals, businesses and the economy.”

The attorney general’s consumer protection unit received 36 reports of identity theft last year. All complaints were forwarded to the FTC for investigation.

In part, the attorneys general recommend rules that provide more notifications to cardholders in the event of an address change request; eliminate knowledge-based authentication security questions, and instead encourage multi-factor authentication or a more modern form; and include as an example of suspicious activity that triggers consumer alerts a foreign IP address attempting to access multiple accounts within a close period of time.

In addition to Hunter, attorneys general with the following states also signed the letter: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.