Officials
urge residents to be vigilant against identity theft THE VILLAGES - Last year, Martha Donaldson's credit card company asked her if she had authorized $3,000 to be deposited in a bank in New York. She had not. "I don't know how someone got my information, but I'm glad the bank called me before they did anything," Donaldson said. A few months ago, her good friend Jan Little had her kitchen redone. They went to Sears and bought new appliances, which they placed on a credit card. A store clerk questioned Little and her husband about the transaction. "Normally, we don't charge that much on our credit card. They checked us out and later apologized, but my husband told them not to - because we were glad they checked us out," Little said. The thought of someone hijacking your identity and using it to defraud consumers, businesses and other entities is alarming. And ways of obtaining another's personal information continue to grow. "It's a shame that we live in a world like this, but that is the way it is and you've just got to be careful," Donaldson said. "I don't know if I should be scared or what, but I do know that the way things are nowadays is frightening," Little said. And the number of identity theft and consumer fraud crimes is growing, according to the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel office. There were 516,740 reported crimes in 2003, up sharply from 404,000 the year before. Those complaints added up to a $400 million hit to the pocket book. With more and more people online, Internet fraud is also on the rise. Computer-related fraud accounted for 55 percent of all fraud reports, compared to 45 percent in 2002. "The magnitude of the cases can be pretty stressful," said Detective Al Greenway, fraud/forgery detective for the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Greenway said from March 2003 to September 2004, he has been assigned to investigate 154 instances of fraud, and 26 cases are still active. For Ocala Police Department Detective Steve Thibodeau, identity theft cases can be very difficult to solve, especially if the crime originates from outside an investigator's jurisdiction or out of the country. "It gets difficult sometimes when some of those countries do not have any treaties with us or even refuse to cooperate," Thibodeau said. On Wednesday, about 70 people attended an identity theft presentation at the Marion County Sheriff's Office district office in The Villages. At that gathering, a representative from The Villages Citizens First Bank told the audience about e-mail scams that ask customers for personal information - such as their Social Security numbers, credit and debit card information, dates of birth and even PINs. Tricia Snodgrass, vice president and training director for the bank, said thieves lifted the Citizens Bank logo in Rhode Island, and are passing it off as their bank. She said a number of customers have been conned, and she is asking them to be cautious about giving out personal information over the Web. "A bank will never ask you for that kind of information over the Internet," she said. Other tips include: File a complaint with the FTC by calling 1-877-ID THEFT. If your driver's license has been stolen or misplaced, contact your local driver's license bureau immediately. Verify and check any information you receive by phone, mail or Internet. Make photocopies of your credit cards and everything in your wallet and put them in a safety deposit box in case your wallet is lost or stolen. Authorities
also said you should order a credit report regularly, and double check your monthly
bank statement. From: http://www.starbanner.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? |