A routine trip to Lansing's Sparrow Hospital cost MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap more than a couple hours off work. It cost him his identity.

Dunlap first realized something was wrong in 1998 after a Sears, Roebuck and Co. collection department left a message on his home answering machine. He called the store and seethed upon hearing he owed more than $5,000 on an account he knew nothing about. After months of research, he could trace it back to the hospital visit.

"I had gone down to Sparrow for some testing, and at that time, Social Security numbers appeared on health care insurance cards and then they went to an insurance billing office," Dunlap said. "(Police) believe somebody that worked at the health care insurance billing office either stole, or stole and sold, the Social Security numbers to other people."

Identity theft is not a new concept, but with personal information easily circulating through cyberspace, it appears to be developing into a more common crime.

In an effort to cripple the character-stealing cons, the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved a law on Jan. 3 that requires Michigan citizens to be notified if any personal information could be vulnerable after a security breach, said Sgt. Matt Bolger, a legislative liaison for the Michigan State police.

"Obviously, when it comes to identity theft, it comes to protecting citizens," said Heidi Watson, a Granholm spokeswoman.

"Identity theft is one of the initiatives (Granholm) has worked hard on."

Bolger said the law, which will take effect July 2, is necessary because other identity theft acts have been specific to certain industries, such as the banking. But Bolger agrees legislation can only do so much.

"The first step is yourself," he said.

After some digging, Dunlap found he apparently had purchased a lawn tractor and stereo equipment in Arizona, along with similar claims from more than 15 credit cards, most of which belonged to chain retail stores.

Even with the know-how of a top police administrator, the process of clearing his name took Dunlap seven months.

"I talked to other people that have (experienced) identity theft and they almost really have thrown up their hands," he said. "It's too much to work through. But you have to do it."

Identity theft expert and adjunct MSU criminal justice Professor Judith Collins said many federal and state laws already protect consumers against identity theft, and individuals need to take the extra effort toward protecting their identity.

"If the laws were enforced, I believe we have plenty of legislation on identity theft," said Collins, who also is an identity theft victim.

Collins founded MSU's Identity Theft Partnership in Prevention program shortly after her experience.

"There are dozens and dozens of federal laws and as many, if not more, state laws on identity theft," she said.

Joyce Banish, vice president of marketing at MSU Federal Credit Union, said phishing is prevailing as a popular form of identity theft. The process attempts to lure credit card numbers and other private information from clueless computer users through false promises of spectacular prizes or fake e-mails stating that a legitimate company needs the information for an existing account.

"I received one today that said it was for my PayPal account," Banish said. "I don't even have a PayPal account."

Although Dunlap said his incident was not his fault, looking back, he would have taken a more active stance to guard against identity theft.

"It's your name and your credit history, and you really need to be proactive in the front end because it's ultimately your loss of credit and your loss of time," he said.

"That's a mistake I made. I should have been more proactive in the front end knowing what I knew, and yet, I didn't do it."

Laura Misjak can be reached at misjakla@msu.edu.