The Many Faces of Identity Theft By Topanga Bird It happened after someone tampered with Alexandra Dorris' locked mailbox; when Paul Phillips encountered a pilfering mail clerk; and when Timothy Aines put his Social Security number on his personal checks. They, and an estimated 9 million people in the United States, became victims of identity theft, a burgeoning crime estimated to have cost its victims some $5 billion, and businesses and financial institutions nearly $50 billion - all in just one year. The U.S. Department of Justice defines identity theft, and its corollary identity fraud, as "all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain."
Place a fraud alert on your credit reports by calling the toll-free fraud number of any one of the three major credit bureaus. (See below "How to Contact the Major Credit Bureaus.") This can help prevent an identity thief from opening additional accounts in your name. Review your reports carefully and check that information such as your Social Security number, address, name or initials, and employer are correct. File a report with your local police or where the identity theft took place. Keep a copy - you may need it to validate your claims to creditors. If you can't get a copy, at least get the report number. Close any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Credit accounts include all accounts with banks, credit card companies and other lenders, phone companies, utilities, and other service providers. If you're closing existing accounts and opening new ones, use new PINs and passwords. Ask the company for forms to dispute any fraudulent charges or debits. Cancel a stolen, lost, or otherwise compromised ATM card as soon as you can. Get a new card with a new PIN. If your checks have been stolen or misused, close the account and ask your bank to notify the appropriate check verification service. Also contact the major check verification companies yourself and ask that retailers who use their databases not accept your stolen checks. The major check verification companies are TeleCheck at (800) 710-9898 and Certegy at (800) 437-5120. Call SCAN, a database of bad check writers, at (800) 262-7771 to find out if checks have been passed in your name. File a complaint with the FTC. This will provide information that can help law enforcement track down and stop identity thieves. The FTC also can refer you to other government agencies and companies for further action. You can file a complaint with the FTC at www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm. (Source: Federal Trade Commission)
USAA's Identity Theft Assistance Team can provide members who are identity theft victims with a single point of contact for reporting and resolving all matters related to identity theft and their USAA accounts. ITAT also offers highly specialized assistance, including information and advice to protect you from future theft, and can help you resolve matters with other companies. If you are an identity theft victim, or if you would like to speak to one of our specialists, please call the ITAT hotline at (877) 762-7256.
Equifax Experian TransUnion "In September 2002, I got a call from Discover Card questioning some unusual activity on 'my' account," says Dorris. "After calls to the credit bureaus, I became aware of fraudulent credit cards in my name with American Express, Discover, Chase, First USA, National, and Fleet." And when Dorris called the fraud department of one of those credit card companies, she learned the extent of the damage done in her name. "The thief had charged approximately $3,000. By the next day, he or she had maxed out the card to approximately $6,700," she says. "Another company opened an additional fraudulent account after closing the first one. In total, the thief charged approximately $30,000 and has not been caught." Dorris has a pretty good idea how all of this happened. "The thief had ordered credit cards in my name and broke into my locked mailbox to intercept them," she says. Mailbox theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission, is one of the typical ways identity thieves get their information. From the low-tech method of rummaging through trash to more complicated e-mail scams, thieves need little more than opportunity. Paul Phillips was working in Europe where he had access to APO mail service. "For a couple of months I was away from my home station and not getting my mail regularly," he says. "As a result, I failed to notice when one of my monthly bank statements went missing. The following month my bank statement turned up with a surprise withdrawal of $7,400 in the form of a certified check. An investigation discovered that the mail clerk - a civilian hire - had been rifling through the personal mail of all employees after picking up the mail from the APO." Notes Phillips, "My bank statement had given him enough information to know my balance, my account number, and Social Security number." A fast-growing problem Dr. Alan Westin, professor emeritus of public law and government at New York's Columbia University, places the rise of identity theft crimes at 81 percent between 2001 and 2002. According to Westin's survey, done in conjunction with the Privacy & American Business organization, an arm of the Center for Social and Legal Research think tank, 33.4 million Americans have been victims of identity theft or fraud since 1990. "ID theft has become the all-American crime of the information age," says Westin. "It affects the rich and poor, high school to university graduates, men and women, young and old, blacks, whites, and Hispanics." Timothy Aines may be one of the earliest victims, although he only recently discovered the crime. Throughout the 1980s, he ordered personal checks preprinted with his Social Security number because he got tired of everyone asking him to manually write it on the checks for identification purposes. Eleven years later, Aines applied for an American Express credit card and was shocked to receive a rejection letter. Aines determined that 11 years earlier someone had obtained an American Express card using his Social Security number, and had run up thousands of dollars in unpaid debt. "It took a great deal of work to convince [American Express] I was not the perpetrator, and to get my identity back, and my name and record cleared," he says. Timely Discovery Is Key Quick action can drastically cut the time needed to clear up problems, according to the FTC findings. But it can take time for a theft to percolate through the many layers of today's complex financial transactions. Consumers usually discover a theft at the worst possible time, says Jeffry Jensen, assistant vice president of fraud control for the USAA Federal Savings Bank. "It's when they're trying to buy a house or a car, or securing a new loan."
Victims should immediately place a fraud alert on their credit reports, close any suspicious accounts, file a police report, and notify the FTC. (See "Responding to Identity Theft.")
Good credit can help you get lower interest rates and save you money. As a Military.com member, get free credit counseling and learn how to manage your money better. Click here. Mopping up Cleaning up after identity theft is a complex and sometimes lengthy process. According to the FTC study, the time needed to clear up problems depends on how quickly the theft is discovered: 76 percent of victims who discovered the fraud within a month after it occurred reported taking less than 10 hours to resolve the problem. That drops to 20 percent after six months or more. According to the FTC, there are
cases where victims do everything right and still spend years dealing with problems
related to identity theft. The good news is that most victims can get their cases
resolved by being vigilant, assertive, and organized. Courtesy of: http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,ID_Theft2,00.html?ESRC=finance.nl |