Identity Theft : Are You At Risk?

In 2004 the Better Business Bureau reported that identity theft cost Americans more than $52 billion during 2003. Most thieves target ordinary citizens: businesspeople, housewives, teenagers, the elderly…people just like you. If you haven’t already been an identity theft victim, you probably know someone that has an identity theft story.

Try this experiment – when you’re at a party or social gathering, ask if anyone has had their identity stolen or knows someone who has. I guarantee you several people will have stories to share related to identity theft.

How would you feel if that happened to you? Who would you call?

Identity thieves need relatively little information to steal your identity. In many cases a name and address is enough to begin the process.

Unfortunately you may not find out you are a victim of identity theft until it is too late. Did you know that more than 85% of victims will find out about identity theft only AFTER they suffer through countless phone calls and letters written to credit bureaus, banks, and even courts of law? What if it is happening to you right now and you don’t even know it?

What if you went to buy a new car and they pulled your credit and then the loan officer raised her eyebrows and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, but I see that you’re already 90 days overdue on two previous car loans and that your second home is in foreclosure. We can’t approve you.” And mind you, these are car loans and a second home loan that you never took out!

Anyone who has a checking account is also at risk. Even worse, anyone with a social security number, which today means everyone, is at risk for identity theft.

Even your children are at risk for identity theft. One of the latest techniques thieves have adopted is stealing the identities of babies. And it’s not always strangers who do this; non-custodial parents have done it, too. Responsible parents are finding that they need to safeguard not only their identity, but also that of their children.

What would you do if you came home and found your high-school age daughter crying her eyes out because her favorite college had turned her down, citing her poor credit history and criminal record…and you knew she’d never had a credit card nor any trouble with the law?

It’s happened. Child Identity theft has also caused problems for those kids when they grow up and try to get their first job.

Often it is even out of your control. In June of 2005, CitiFinancial, the consumer finance division of Citigroup, Inc, notified almost 4 million U.S. customers' that computer tapes containing information about their accounts — including Social Security numbers and payment histories — were lost.

It is happening all the time, in May of 2005 media and entertainment company Time Warner Inc. said that computer backup tapes containing data on 600,000 individuals were lost by an outside data storage firm. The list goes on and on of companies who have had the same problem – Ameritrade, BankofAmerica, MasterCard, Wachovia, Ralph Lauren…

Anyone is a potential victim in the eyes of an identity thief. Here are some examples of cases that happened to real people across the nation:

• In 2003, a Texas woman was pursued by the IRS for back taxes. She received a letter from the IRS stating that she failed to report income in 2003 that she’d never received. The woman struggled for months in an attempt to clear her name with the government, including filing reports with police, credit bureaus, the FTC and the IRS, and the Social Security Administration.

• In California, a woman returned home after living abroad for four years to find that her home had been rented out in her absence. The criminal rented her home out by posing as the landlord.  He forged a power of attorney in the woman’s name and used it to get a home equity loan on her home and took the quick cash. The Identity theft left the woman with thousands of dollars in debts she had to pay.

• A customer of a VA credit union found himself $7,000 in debt after his checkbook was stolen, even though he’d stopped payment on his checks for six months. The bank had failed to close the account as directed, yet they held the customer responsible for the financial loss that resulted from Identity theft.

• In Washington D.C., a woman received notice that her son was to appear at a bankruptcy hearing. Her son was only five years old. The woman learned that the father had stolen the son’s identity and was filing bankruptcy under the boy’s name.

• The New York Attorney General recently arrested a man who’d been working in the insurance industry for Identity theft. The man used personal data he collected at work to steal several people’s identity. The identity thief ruined the other employees’ credit ratings and most victims lost a lot of money that they were not able to get back.

• Also in New York, a clerical employee secretly collected the personal information of several employees at an insurance company and then used the information to steal more than $100,000 worth of goods and services.

• One victim found that a stranger started using her social security number and professional licensing information to impersonate her. The thief took out loans, property and even bought a car in her name, then later filed for bankruptcy.

• An 18 year old found that her landlord had tricked her into signing documents that allowed him to file two bankruptcies in her name to avoid foreclosure on his properties.

Notice anything that all the examples above have in common? Here are a few:

1. None of them are about credit cards. Too many people just think of credit card fraud and credit card theft when they hear about Identity theft. There are numerous other forms of identity theft. In fact, credit card theft isn’t even the most lucrative for of Identity theft.

2. All of these examples were happening without the identity theft victim knowing about it.

3. These were all situations in which the identity fraud victim had no ability to prevent the Identity theft.

Still think it can’t happen to you? Well, it’s happening to millions of real people, and the statistics say it’s just a matter of time before ID theft happens to you. You must take steps to protect your identity, but even more importantly, you must be informed about what to do WHEN your identity gets stolen.

Unfortunately, right now it is unlikely that you can prevent identity theft. It’s like protecting your home. Most people don’t think their house will catch on fire, but the smart ones buy fire extinguishers, home insurance, fire alarms, and monitoring service.

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