State looks to better protect Marylanders
Task force will examine ways to reduce theft
SALISBURY -- Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people are victims of identity theft in any given year, and Maryland has formed a task force to address the problem.
The state-established Identity Theft Task Force will begin to meet Nov. 15. Darrin Brown, a lobbyist for the Maryland chapter of the AARP and a representative on the task force, said its goal is to find ways to better protect Marylanders from security breeches of this nature without hindering their private lives.
The National Center for State Courts, based in Virginia, reports that states and Congress are taking a more serious look at legislation to prevent identitytheft.
Recent incidents sparking more dialogue and pushing legislation about the issues include when a staff person at the Department of Veteran Affairs reported that his laptop, which held confidential data for 26 million veterans, had beenstolen earlier this year. Also, ChoicePoint, a Georgia-based information broker, reported that the personal data of more than 100,000 customers nationwide had been compromised.
At the local level, the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office reported 19 cases of identity theft this year. The victims had their identifies stolen from credit cards, bank accounts and Social Security numbers, said First Sgt. Babe Wilson. To solve cases of identity theft, the officers make contact with companies where the perpetrator used the victim's identity and work with them to locate suspects, he said. He said identitytheft scams are on the rise here and nationwide.
"It's very important to make sure you secure your information at all times with the credit card companies," Wilson said. "Should you think or feel you are a victim of identitytheft you should report it immediately."
Salisbury police do not have a code for identify theft cases, only for fraud, and could not provide an accurate number of occurrences. Detective Dana Peterson said this does not mean it is not happening here. She said many people may not know they are victims. She said she's seen statistics that reported 7 to 10 million people may be affected by identitytheft each year.
The cases of identity theft that do happen here come in the form of stolen credit cards or a stolen check, she said. The perpetrators assume the person's identity to use the card or check. The success of solving the cases depends on the quality of a store's video surveillance, she said.
But identities can be stolen a number of ways, experts say.
Dawn Higgins' identity was stolen by people she knew and trusted.
A friend introduced Higgins, of Arlington, Va., to people in North Carolina, where she was interested in buying a house to rent out. Higgins said she considered these people her friends and relied on them to help manage the houses she bought by acting as the rental agents while she was in Virginia. These friends had Higgins' work address and other information she provided to the bank to obtain a loan for the houses. They used this information she entrusted to them to forge her signature and purchase five more houses at $700,000 without Higgins' knowledge or approval, she said.
Higgins did not suspect anything until she received phone calls from mortgage companies, but she brushed it aside until she tried to buy a house for herself in Virginia and she was told she couldn't buy the house because she had several houses in foreclosure. The men in North Carolina were not paying the mortgages and were pocketing the money from renters, she said.
Once she found out, she confronted the rental agents and they admitted that they bought the houses, but they would not say who forged her name. Higgins asked the American Bar Association what to do and they told her to file a police report, which she did.
But to this day the men have yet to be arrested, she said. The police have told her they are still investigating her case.
Higgins has paid $150,000 out of pocket. Part of this money went to paying off the foreclosures so she wouldn't have a bad credit report, but she couldn't afford to keep that up. About $20,000 went to lawyer fees.
"I keep asking myself what I would have done," Higgins said. "I never would have invested with these people."
It can happen to you
Identity theft can happen to anyone, said Andy Galli, executive director of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, a nonprofit statewide organization focused on consumer rights.
In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission reported that 500,000 people had their information stolen, Galli said. One in 10 people have been hit in the past 10 years and 42 percent of the FTC's total complaints are about identitytheft, he said.
And the numbers are increasing, said Sonya Smith-Valentine, a lawyer in Greenbelt, Md., whose niche is consumer rights. She said people are most concerned about access to their Social Security number, date of birth, address and telephone number, all of which can be obtained through a variety of means including online database searches or simply digging through someone's garbage.
Of the calls Smith-Valentine receives, she said at least one in four, if not half, are about identity theft. Most people, she said, don't realize their identity has been stolen until they pull up a credit report.
"Having your identity stolen can impact your job; if you have poor credit It permeates so many things, people are concerned because it affects so much in life," Smith-Valentine said.
Two years ago it was reported that identity theft cost the economy $48 billion, Galli said. For one person, it takes an average of 175 hours to correct it, at an average cost of $808 out of pocket, he said.
"That's been a problem; we're trying to work on that," Galli said about people having to fork up their own money to solve the problem.
To make matters worse, the perpetrator is often known by the victim, said Jay Foley, co-director of the San Diego-based Identity Resource Center, a nationwide nonprofit program. About 20 percent of all identitytheft victims know the perpetrator, and of those about half are related to the impostor, he said.
The reason identity theft is increasing is because it has gotten faster, easier and more efficient to steal the information online, Smith-Valentine said. One reason for this is that people's information has become a commercial product available on databases that businesses or individuals can subscribe to for a fee. She said she subscribes to one of these databases so she can track down defendants. All she has to do is put the name and address into the search blank and she can pull up a variety of information including the person's car registration, houses and driver's license. She said reverse telephone and address lookups, such as Whitepages.com, are becoming easier to use and provide people with the first and last name and mailing addresses of individuals.
"Unscrupulous people sign up," Smith-Valentine said. "All you have to do is pay. Other (online databases) want to certify that they're credible, but others don't have to."
Information is also given out by companies depending on their privacy policies, she said.
"Companies we do business with sell marketing lists," Smith-Valentine said. "A lot of people don't check a company's privacy policy and some companies don't have a policy."
How they steal it
Smith-Valentine said her clients' identities have been stolen a number of ways.
In one instance, an individual diverted the person's mail to his own home, which automatically gave him access to the address, phone number name and other sensitive information. Another method is to call and pose as someone like a clerk at a bank. The individual may then ask you to confirm that your records are up to date, tricking you into providing information, she said.
'Your company wouldn't call you to confirm information over the phone,' she said.
Pre-approved credit cards found in the trash have also proved to be a source of identity theft. The cards already have your first and last name on them, all the individual has to do is call the number and say your address has changed.
'All you have to do is just sign it and send it back, and say 'Oh, I moved, and here's my new address,' so the statements never come to you,' Smith-Valentine said.
People also obtain personal information by stealing from business entities.
'The bottom line is if I want that kind of information, I'm going to go to an accountant's office or doctor's office and steal his computer because that's where the information is,' Foley said.
The elderly are at a high risk for identity theft because they may be more trusting, but they could be protected if certain legislative measures were passed, Foley said."
Take matters into your own hands
Foley said there are numerous minor ways to reduce your risk, but no real way to protect yourself. "It's a luck-of-the-draw situation, mostly based on what exposure you have more than anything else," he said.
To help prevent identity theft, Foley said to do the obvious -- get your Social Security card out of your wallet, shred before throwing any papers away and use a lock-in mailbox. "There's limited things a consumer can do," he said.
He suggested that people check their credit reports at least once a year. Everyone is entitled to one free copy of credit report a year.
"Checking those at least once a year is a clear indication," Foley said. "If something is going south it would show up there."
Smith-Valentine encourages people to opt out of having information provided on marking lists and sign onto a do-not-call list. She suggested two places to opt-out; the first is through Direct Marketing Association, which keeps a database of people who want to be removed. Visit http://www.phe-dma.org/ for more information. The other site is http://www.optoutprescreen.com/, which helps limit the number of pre-approved credit card offers.
"In usually three to four months you will see a drastic decrease in the amount of offers and things getting in the mail," Smith-Valentine said.
Higgins said she has decided to take matters into her own hands by taking legal classes and educating herself and others on how to prevent identitytheft and what to do if it happens.
"There's no one out there to help you," Higgins said. "And going through the credit bureau is the most frustrating thing. It was a dead end."
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