Wired on Friday: Recently I noticed some unauthorised charges appearing on my credit card. Before any more fraudulent activity could occur, I contacted my financial institution, which quickly deactivated the account and sent me a replacement credit card with a new number.

My example is just one case of identity theft, albeit not as serious as it could be. In some cases, people's homes have been re-mortgaged by thieves arranging fraudulent transactions and pocketing the proceeds.

Identity theft - a crime in which someone uses your social security number, personal information and good credit history to open credit card or loan accounts in your name - is one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the US.

Identity theft cost consumers and businesses $53 billion (€42.6 billion) in 2002, according to the Federal Trade Commission. About 9.9 million Americans found that someone took money from their bank accounts, or obtained a credit card or official document in their name.

It is estimated that it can take a consumer whose identity has been stolen up to 18 months and often thousands of dollars to clear his name and restore his previous good credit rating. Some insurance companies now offer policies to cover the costs incurred in reversing the effects of becoming an identity theft victim.

In order to help the innocent victims of identity theft, the Financial Services Roundtable (www.fsround.org), a trade association that represents 100 of the largest financial institutions in the US, is creating an identity theft assistance centre.

Roundtable member companies account for $12.4 trillion in managed assets, $561 billion in revenue and provide 1.8 million jobs.

Beginning on May 1st, victims of identity theft can make just one phone call to their local bank or credit card company, which will fill out a uniform affidavit to record the victim's information about the crime.

This means victims only have to tell their story once, beginning with their primary financial institution.

Once issues are resolved at that institution, and with the customer's consent, the information will be sent to the assistance centre. The centre would then call the victim and, with his or her authorisation, obtain their credit reports and combine them with the uniform affidavit to identify fraudulent accounts at other companies.

If fraudulent new accounts are identified, the centre would transmit a fraud alert to the three national credit bureaus - Experian, TransUnion or Equifax - and transmit a report to each affected company. The centre would also transmit a report to the Federal Trade Commission's identity theft database and to law enforcement agencies.

"It will be like a call centre," said Ms Anne Wallace, executive director of the Identity Theft Assistance Corporation, the official company operating the centre.

"We are testing the concept. The origin of this idea arose from the chief executives of our member companies - which include Citigroup, Bank One and JP Morgan Chase - because of concern about the impact of identity theft on their customers."

She said the centre's aim is threefold: to help victims of identity theft recover their financial identity; to share information with law enforcement agencies; and to collect information about the crimes so members of the financial industry can do a better job fighting the perpetrators.

About 50 of the Financial Services Roundtable members will participate in the year-long pilot. Wells Fargo & Co has agreed to conduct the pilot with the support of the Roundtable member institutions.

The service will be free to consumers because the financial institutions will subsidise the cost of running the centre.

The Financial Services Roundtable is talking to various vendors about operating the call centre for the US.

"Access to the centre will not be universal," Ms Wallace said. "The way the pilot will work is, if you believe you have a problem, call your financial institution and it will offer you the opportunity to use this service."

The first institution a customer talks to will do the investigation on his behalf.

"While there are some volunteer, consumer-oriented organisations that do a fabulous job, there has never been anything on this scale," Ms Wallace said.

By the second quarter of 2005, the Identity Theft Assistance Centre will review how many calls it has received during the year, gauge consumer reaction, and see how well it has co-operated with law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, postal inspection service and US Secret Service. If the pilot is successful, the centre may provide services to other companies that are not members of the Financial Services Roundtable.