PORTLAND – By the time the law caught up with Steven Morehouse, the 66-year-old New Hampshire man had spent 23 years making a living by stealing other people’s identities. Federal officials say he bilked more than $346,000 out of people from North Carolina to Maine.

It’s that type of crime that costs consumers $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses, and businesses and financial institutions nearly $48 billion, in 2002, according to a Federal Trade Commission survey.

Sen. Susan Collins, U.S. Postal Service officials and others held a press conference Monday to publicize “Operation: Identity Crisis,” a nationwide push to educate the public about identity theft and how to prevent it.

More than 9.9 million people were the victims of identity theft last year.

“In Maine sometimes we feel we’re immune to some of the problems of the world … that’s not the case,” Maine State Police Col. Michael Sperry said.

There were 306 identify theft complaints from Maine residents in 2002, according to the FTC. Of those, 147 reported credit card fraud, or 48 percent of the total. Also reported were identity thefts involving bank, phone, utilities, loan and government documents.

The majority of identity thefts occurred in the Portland area by people who were usually unaware anything was amiss, Collins said.

“A person can become a victim simply by going about their daily business,” she said.

A few years ago Collins’ staff managed to obtain dozens of fake identification cards for the senator, all in an afternoon’s work. Without any training, the Maine Republican soon had legitimate-looking identification from a number of states and institutions, including an FBI employee badge and a student identification card.

In 2000 she introduced the Internet False Identification Prevention Act. Now a law, it prevents the distribution of false identification documents over the Internet and made it easier to prosecute perpetrators.

Postal Inspector in Charge Ken Jones said people need to use common sense and caution to help avoid becoming a victim of identity theft.

He said people shouldn’t give out Social Security numbers over the phone or leave mail in a mailbox overnight or on weekends. They should deposit mail in postal collection boxes, shred unwanted documents, and review consumer credit reports.