A5 ID Theft-final.doc

IDENTITY THEFT

By Red, Inc. Communications

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Crooks don’t come through the front door anymore. Gone are the days when burglars broke into your house in the dead of night to steal your TV.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports burglary rates are down more than 300 percent since 1972. Violent crime rates are at the lowest level in American history.

But don’t be fooled. The criminals are still out there. Unlike the yesterday’s lawbreaker, today’s felon does more than steal your wallet. Today’s felon steals YOU. It’s called identity theft, and it has been the fastest growing type of crime in the United States over each of the past seven years.

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Just ask Jenny.

Jenny, who prefers to remain anonymous, grew up like any other well-adjusted child. Jenny’s grade school years were full of birthday parties, carnival rides and trips to the dentist. Healthy, happy and full of life, Jenny didn’t have a care in the world.

Though she didn’t know it at the time, Jenny’s life took a wrong turn just after her ninth birthday.

Over the next seven years, that wrong turn buried Jenny under a mountain of financial liability. At the same time she was memorizing her times tables and chasing middle school boys, white-collar criminals were working to cripple Jenny’s bright future.

When she tried to buy her first car at the age of 16, Jenny discovered she was another unwitting victim of Identity Theft. Barely old enough to drive, identity thieves had already saddled Jenny with a 30-year home mortgage, a car payment and several overdue credit card bills.

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When she attempted to secure a loan on a used 1988 Ford pick-up truck, the financial institution refused the application based on Jenny’s credit card debt and the fact that she already had a $600 monthly payment on a new car. Further, Jenny was 90-days past due on her $2,600 house payment.

Collection agencies called Jenny demanding she pay off past-due balances on credit cards she never owned. Banks refused Jenny’s applications for simple checking accounts, explaining that her account history of bouncing checks made her an “unacceptable risk.”

Yet Jenny never had an account history, never had a check to bounce and never had anyone consider her an “unacceptable risk”. Jenny’s biggest financial concern was whether or not to buy a dress for Junior Prom.

When she went to the local police department to straighten things out, officers told her there was an arrest warrant in her name and a “criminal hit” on her record.

Looking into the skeptical eyes of the gathered police, Jenny realized she had just grown up.

Burden of Proof

Identity Theft is a different crime than most. In other criminal proceedings, the burden of proof is on the state and the accused criminal is innocent until proven guilty. In Identity Theft the burden of proof is on the victim, meaning you are guilty and financially liable until you can prove your innocence.

When she first discovered her situation, Jenny had no idea where to start in proving her innocence. All she wanted was a loan on a used pick-up. Instead she entered into a five-year mission to restore her good name.

“I honestly thought the nightmare was never going to end,” Jenny said. “I spent so much time and energy clearing my name and reclaiming my identity that I thought I would never get through it. I can’t say when it happened, but one day I realized that the worst was over.”

Nearly five years and thousands of personal hours later, Jenny celebrated her 21st birthday with a secure identity. In the end, she was not held accountable for the car, house, credit cards or arrest warrant. Twelve years after it started and after hundreds of hours chasing paper trails across the nation, Jenny’s identity was again secure.

Forever changed by her rude introduction to white-collar crime, Jenny remains distrustful and skeptical when asked for personal information. Even when talking about the very crime that stole her innocence, Jenny prefers to remain anonymous.

“I find it very hard to trust people who ask me personal questions that could give enough info to use while committing a crime,” she said. “The people who stole my identity have never been caught. I was told by the FBI agent who was working on my case that I was part of a large theft ring.”

An ounce of prevention …

Any doctor selling flu shots will tell you the best medicine is preventative medicine. And like your mom used to say, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Nowhere are these principles more applicable than in the world of Identity Theft.

Despite what you may have heard from commercial identity protection services, there is no sure way to avoid all kinds of identity theft. Identity Theft is basically a numbers game where criminals hack into your financial life using the numbers that define it. As such, your best defense is to limit the availability of these numbers.

Using a variety of methods, identity thieves steal Social Security numbers, birthdates, driver's license numbers, credit card numbers, ATM cards and various other bits of personal information. The criminals then impersonate their victims, milking as much money out of their identity as possible before moving on to the next victim.

“You have to keep in the back of your mind that everything you do both on-line and on paper can fall into the wrong hands,” Jenny said. “I had to incorporate small changes and common sense protective steps into my every day activities. At first these steps were very disruptive, but after a few weeks they became second nature.”

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The Federal Trade Commission has a long list of these common sense tips to protect privacy rights. The FTC’s anti-ID theft program “Deter, Detect, Defend,” helps individuals itemize these simple tasks and lower their risk for Identity Theft.

“Deter” identity thieves by safeguarding your information; “Detect” suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements; and “Defend” against ID theft as soon as you suspect a problem.

“When did stealing someone life and destroying a total stranger’s future become acceptable behavior?” Jenny asks. “Where has the concept of right and wrong gone? This kind of crime hits every tax bracket and no one is truly safe. We need to protect ourselves.”

References

Bureau of Justice Statistics Report, Sept. 10, 2006; National Crime Victimization Survey Violent Crime Trends, 1973-2005. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/viortrdtab.htm Federal Trade Commission; Fighting Back Against Identity Theft, Deter, Detect, Defend, 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ Jennifer W. of Grandview, MO, source who wishes to remain anonymous due to her past experiences with identity theft (subject interview, April 18, 2008), PAGE