Aggravated identity theft is a crime that involves stealing another persons identity and using it during and in relation to the commission of an enumerated federal felony offense. It is different from identity theft because it involves the theft of another persons identity and then committing a crime. The government enacted the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act in 1998, which prohibits the use of another persons identifying information in connection with any federal crime, or any state or local felony. In 2004, Congress enacted a second identity theft statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, entitled "Aggravated Identity Theft," which prohibits identity theft in connection with certain enumerated federal crimes or identity theft in connection with terrorism offenses.

Aggravated identity theft charges fall into two categories: approximately 60 federal felony white-collar predicate offenses and approximately 50 federal felony terrorism-related offenses. A means of identification is defined as any name or number used, alone or together with any other information, to identify a specific person, including a name, social security number, date of birth, officially issued drivers license or identification number, alien registration number, passport number, employer or taxpayer identification number, or electronic identification number or routing code. If a person is convicted of federal aggravated identity theft, the judge must impose a two-year identity theft prison sentence, which must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed in the case.