Two banks are among the 15 companies involved in the establishment of iDcare - an Australasian identity theft support service. iDcare operates a support line and will guide consumers through the process of dealing with an identity theft.The organisation, launched yesterday, is a public and private sector joint initiative, with the involvement of the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department and the New Zealand Government. iDcare managing director, David Lacey, said customers could deal directly with their bank if they lost their cards or their bank account had been hacked. However, an incident of identity theft often involved a broader problem that had to be dealt with, which is where iDcare aimed to be of service.Lacey said: "Our role is to help the consumer mitigate the damage of an identity theft. One of the problems consumers have is that there is not a lot of information available telling them what to do when it happens."We will do an inventory of their personal information with them and give them a recovery plan. The biggest issue for most people is not that they have suffered an identity theft but how they deal with the problem."He said iDcare would not collect information on individuals. Callers to the support line are treated anonymously and without charge.Organisations that have signed up to use the service include the Australian Taxation Office (tax file number theft is a problem), Australia Post, telecommunications companies and insurance companies, as well as banks.iDcare has not released a full list of member organisations because it is still completing an accreditation process. However, ANZ's global head of security Damian McMeekin is on the board.iDcare will also act as an intelligence agency for its member organisations, giving them reports of the types of crimes they are dealing with.