The Garden City Telegram
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Credit difficult to repair after identity theft
Published 10/23/2008 in News : Police
By SHAJIA AHMAD
In a split second, Darla Arnold realized she had left her small purse at the check-out counter.
The Garden City resident hurriedly returned to the Dillons East, 1305 E. Kansas Ave., cash register -- no wallet.
And no idea who might now have her driver's license, her Social Security card and her son's birth certificate -- the latter two Arnold said she was carrying subsequent to helping her son get his driver's permit.
With her personal and private information in someone else's hands, is her identity at risk, too?
"The thought of somebody with your stuff, it's just annoying," Arnold said, after her wallet was stolen three weeks ago.
After reporting the incident to the police, Arnold said she was advised by officers to contact all three national credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and Transunion -- to place an initial fraud alert on her credit file.
No one can use her personal information to obtain credit or open accounts without calling and verifying the request with her at home first.
While Arnold said she feels comfortable with the fraud alert for the time being, the possibility of identity theft is a reality for millions of American households across the nation, some of whom are targeted for years before they realize it.
According to the latest available November 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Justice, 6.4 million households -- 5.5 percent of all Americans -- discovered that at least one member of their family experienced one or more types of identity theft. The average amount of fraudulent debt was $1,620.
Identity theft occurs when a person uses someone else's personal identifying information to obtain credit or bank accounts, take out loans, gain employment, file taxes, obtain utility services or numerous other incidents in which a person pretends to be someone else. Unauthorized use of an existing credit card account is the most prevalent type of identity theft, more than half of the reported incidents nationwide.
Reported cases of the crime have tripled in Finney County since 2000, with 17 reported in the county so far this year. Whether that is a case of increased prevalence of the crime or increased awareness that has led to increased reporting, police officials don't know.
What they do know is that most cases never are cleared, and they can haunt victims for years down the road.
Capt. Mike Warren of the Finney County Sheriff's Office said while law enforcement officials can help direct persons who have been victimized by identity theft or are at risk, a lot of the work must be done on the victim's part.
It is especially difficult, Warren said, to catch a person or persons at the root of the crime because it is often perpetrated from afar, often in other states.
"Not only are we at the mercy of other agencies to follow through on requests, often we may have a city but no address," Warren said. Perpetrators of identity theft often use a false address and cannot be located, he added.
Only in a small number of cases, perpetrators are caught if and when they file taxes with the Internal Revenue Service after using someone else's Social Security number to gain employment, Warren said. After filing their taxes, victims are told by the IRS that they've already filed -- that is how some find out someone is using their personal information.
While on a nationwide scale households in urban or suburban areas are more likely than those in rural areas to experience identity theft, the Kansas Attorney General's Office recommends that persons order their credit report at least once a year because they may be a victim without even knowing it.
The Kansas Attorney General's Office has been put on alert this month after a growing trend of reports have filtered in concerning fraudulent accounts opened in the names of deceased Kansans, most of which appear to be the type of accounts used to finance purchases through retail stores.
The state office recommends that if persons discover that a recently deceased relative receives a credit card or any type of invoice on a new account, they should verify the information and confirm that the debt is owed. If the account was opened without authorization, they should report it immediately to local law enforcement.
Some of the following are warning signs that a person's personal information and finances are at risk: a person is denied credit; unfamiliar charges are found on a credit card statement or statements suddenly stop coming; a debt collector calls about an unknown debt; and personal information such as bank cards or personal identification cards have been stolen.
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