12-13-02news1

Identity Theft:
Victims blindsided
by Kelly Feser Eells

It wasn't so long ago that the phrase, "identity theft" had an Orwellian ring to it. Unfortunately, it is now so prevalent that it sounds about as futuristic as "carjacking" or "armed robbery."
It is also, however, a crime that makes its victims feel "creepy."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, two local women who have had their identity stolen five and three times, respectively, offer their perspectives below.
Longtime Ojai resident Mary (whose last name is withheld by her request) was contacted by a collections agency for payment of five separate telephone accounts, all fraudulently set up in her name and with her Social Security number.
"It started with a bill I got from Pacific Bell," said Mary, "that had a number on it I'd never seen before."
Then, "After advising them that 'this isn't and never has been my phone number,' I received a message a couple of months ago," from a collections agency, advising her that she was in arrears for over $1,000 in both Pacific Bell and Sprint telephone charges.
Understandably alarmed, Mary decided to get her credit report. Indeed, "after (the collections agency) started hounding me," she ended up getting three of them - from Equifax, Trans Union and Experian, formerly TRW, Inc., the three federally authorized reporting bureaus - all of which confirmed her worst suspicions: One or more unknown suspects had access to her Social Security number.
"There were all these fraudulent telephone accounts, all set up with my Social Security number and name." And, aside from the one, suspicious Pacific Bell bill Mary received, "all these other bills had been going to other (people's) addresses, some of them not even real, apparently."
She was further alarmed to discover that "this had been going on since October of 2000."
With a half-serious shudder, Mary points to the fact that credit officers at Sprint "told me that, before they even authorize a new account, they check photo IDs. Which means that these people were using their own pictures, providing fake papers," with her personal information.
"There's not much you can do about it, either," she said, explaining that even people who take every precaution - shredding credit card "invitations," never giving personal information over the telephone or Internet, etc., - are vulnerable to identity theft.
Acknowledging that she's been "somewhat lucky; some people are taken for tens of thousands of dollars," Mary adds that her case, which local detectives have indicated is in Los Angeles County's jurisdiction, will likely remain unsolved. "It doesn't seem to matter how careful you are. All it takes is one dishonest clerk, working at the phone company or the DMV or your doctor's office (where everyone's practically known by his or her Social Security number!) to steal your info and, well ..."
Kelly, another Ojai resident, finishes her thought: "... ruin a heck of a lot more than your day."
Identity thieves have victimized the self-described "paranoid consumer" three times in as many years, making unauthorized purchases with her Visa, American Express and MasterCard accounts. "And the ironic thing," she said, "is that Visa, the only credit card I had with a photo ID, was the account most ripped off - to the tune of almost a thousand dollars."
Still, it was Visa that alerted Kelly to the theft, not the other way around. "When I first got their call, I thought, 'how Big Brother of you,' questioning my buying habits. But then the credit officer asked me if I'd made any recent purchases at three 'hip-hop stores' in Pomona and I got spooked for real.
'No, of course not,' I said."
As it turned out, someone else had, "and, over the course of just two days, had bought himself $980 worth of stuff at these three stores I'd never heard of, much less been within 100 miles of."
Kelly added that, "I ended up being extremely grateful for Visa's 'Big Brotherly' ways. They made it a lot easier on me than the people at American Express or MasterCard, who acted like there was nothing strange about me being in Sweden or Venezuela the same day I was supposedly charging merchandise in the United States."
Aside from the "requisite $50 " American Express held Kelly responsible for, neither woman has had to pay for any of the fraudulent debts incurred in their names. Yet they have had to "pay" for the crimes committed against them in a number of other ways.
Mary has spent untold hours on an "awful lot of paperwork, not to mention the services of two notary publics.
"It's a huge hassle clearing your name," she sighed.
While Mary's credit report "looks pretty good right now," Kelly hasn't looked at hers in three years. "I've been too busy proving I'm not the deadbeat here," she said, smiling. "I'm sure it's okay, but then, I used to be sure that no one could steal an account requiring a photo ID."
In fact, "when I asked Visa how such a thing was even possible, I was told, 'normally, it isn't. At least not by individuals; cases like yours are almost always the work of a theft ring. These people play with numbers from discarded credit slips or just make up anything and, once they get one that works, they get other thieves, like the ones working at those three stores of yours, to run it through for them, taking whatever cut they'd decided on.'"
Both women expect things will get worse before they get better. "How can they not?" said Mary. "Too many people who shouldn't have access to our Social Security numbers do. (Credit issuers) should give us, or let us pick, individual PINs."
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (www.idtheftcenter.org), one of the nation's few, nonprofit victims' support agencies, more than 700,000 citizens have, in the year 2001 alone, had their identities stolen, with Social Security and drivers license numbers the most frequently misappropriated "identifiers."
Beginning Jan. 1, 2003, consumers may, via written request and a nominal fee, place a "security freeze" on their credit reports. With a security freeze in place, the credit reporting agency will be prohibited from releasing any identifying information, including name, address, birthdate or Social Security number, without the consumers' prior authorization (extended by their providing a unique, pre-assigned PIN or password to the credit reporting agency.)
But what can consumers do to protect themselves in the meantime?
Kelly, who, along with a friend, was robbed at gunpoint "by some maniac who'd been hiding in the back of our van," and has also been the victim of four other theft-related crimes in the 25 years since, replies with a shrug. "People have been accusing me of being 'too paranoid, too mistrustful' for years. They tease me about how I lock my car doors the minute I get into it; about how I use a P.O. box or business address on everything from checks to vehicle registration; about my paper shredder, even about having an unlisted telephone number. With this kind of thief, though, there's not much more I could do to protect myself short of buying everything with cash or becoming a hermit."
Mary replies by saying, "While Kelly has definitely been more unlucky than I have, I'd agree that safeguarding your privacy is, now more than ever, really important. Once your identity's stolen, it can what seems like forever to make things right."
The Federal Trade Commission and the Identity Theft Resource Center likewise emphasize taking precautionary measures, some of which might strike non-victims as too precautionary. For example, both agencies suggest that, in the event of a stolen and/or lost wallet, regardless of how quickly it was, if ever, returned and/or found, the owner should assume that everything in it might have been used to steal his identity. This means canceling all cards - including such "innocuous" ones as AAA, MediCal, or video store cards - and reapplying for new accounts.
And if you still become a victim?
First and foremost, document everything. (California's credit grantors are required by law to issue copies of any questionable transactions; if applicable, request them.) Keep detailed records of all telephone conversations, too, being sure to include the full names and/or titles of everyone spoken to.
Also, file a police report and ask for a copy. "Occasionally, the thief or thieves are caught and, with a police report on file, it's much easier to recoup any losses or expenses associated with the crime."
Finally, send all requested correspondence by certified mail, and send it to "higher-ups," only.
Kelly notes that, "you can waste a lot of time pleading your case to the wrong people. Anything I've had to have notarized or sent certified mail, I usually send straight to the Attorney General's office, consumer fraud division," of the credit-issuing state.

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