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Page 3 • Tuesday, April
Stolen ID
By Heather Newman
KRT CAMPUS
Identity theft is soaring, thanks to high-tech tools, minor
penalties and widespread publicity.
Crooks are stealing honest people’s personal information and
racking up credit card bills in their names, opening dozens of
new accounts and ruining sterling credit ratings that took years
to build.
If you’re one of the many people who suspect the rise of online
banking and shopping is to blame, think again. Law enforcement
experts say the vast majority of identity thefts still involve low-
tech crime, such as stealing mail or dumpster diving for sensitive
documents thrown out in the trash.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions when using the
Internet for personal transactions. But the risk of someone intercept
ing your sensitive information over the Internet is much less than
many folks think.
People cite fear of identity theft and credit card fraud as one of
the major reasons they won’t shop online. The recently released
UCLA Internet Report, a survey of 2,000 adults, showed that
fewer adults shopped on the Internet last year than before. Nine
out of 10 people surveyed said they’re concerned about how
secure their personal information is when or if they buy online.
Yet studies show that in cases where victims knew how their
identity was stolen, the No. 1 cause was having their purse or wallet
swiped. Experts say the majority of crooks get their information
lat"time alita^ through a job or an insider connection. Buying or selling items
J 'online falls far down the list.
Consider these recent cases:
A worker for a computer company that served credit reporting
bureaus sold people’s personal information for $60 a record, result
ing in the theft of more than 12,000 people’s identities. Virtually
every adult American has a record with the three major credit-report
ing agencies. The ring operated for at least two years before being
busted in November.
Two men who posed as computer technicians broke into the
a study abroad ptuirecords of Florida restaurants, stealing personal information for
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
What’s worse is there’s very little people can do to completely
prevent their identity from being stolen. Victims spend up to two
years to clear their names, convincing creditors they didn’t open or
max out accounts. And even after everything has been settled, they
aren’t protected against future thefts.
“Identity theft is not discovered that quickly, and it doesn’t end
that quickly,” said Barbara Span, vice president of external affairs at
Star Systems, the nation’s largest ATM-debit network. Her company
regularly researches ID theft.
“There are a lot of sources to get an individual’s personal finan
cial infonnation,” she said. “You can’t be cautious enough.”
Take Michael Barlow. His case had a typical cause, but an
unusual ending.
Barlow is director of curriculum for Hazel Park Schools. A couple
years ago, he got a call from one of the three agencies that compile
credit reports.
The agent told him he wanted to make sure everything was
OK. There had been a flurry of activity on his account: a pile of
applications for new cards, old cards being maxed out, and a
new address popping up in the records
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caught selling personal information to get illegal aliens into the
I country. Given current world events, that could lead to results far
I more sobering than a tarnished credit rating: ID theft helped fund the
Rick Nease • KRT CAMPUS
“I knew nothing about this,” he said.
He asked for, and received, the phone number and address the
person was using to open the fraudulent accounts. Then he called the
number, posing as a bureaucrat for one of the credit card companies.
“I called this number in Detroit, and asked to speak to myself,” he
said. “The man said, ‘Yes, this is him.’”
He quizzed the man about the facts on the application, discover
ing that he knew Barlow’s work history. Social Security number and
a pile of other personal details.
“It was absolutely chilling. He never skipped a beat.”
Barlow filed a complaint with the state Attorney General’s Office
online. In days, officers from that unit, the Detroit Police Department
and the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office had set up a sting, catching the
crook red-handed.
It turned out that the man, Darryl Carswell of Detroit, had done
this before. He got Barlow’s information from a form Barlow had
filled out at an optometrist’s office years before. When the office
closed, it simply dropped the records - including his personal infor
mation - into a trash bin.
That’s where Carswell got the file. He later pleaded guilty to
reduced charges in federal court.
“This should never have happened,” Barlow said.
But that’s how it often does. Barlow was Internet savvy, even
using the Web to help catch the crook. Still, his online activities had
nothing to do with getting his name stolen.
Barlow also was lucky. There is no requirement for credit agen
cies to call when there’s unusual activity on a person’s account, espe
cially considering they don’t offer credit themselves. In fact, if you
want that service on a regular basis you typically have to buy it for as
much as $80 a year.
National Studies show most people know someone who’s been
the victim of identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission says
there were 161,819 new cases reported to the federal government in
2002, almost double the previous year’s total.
And, as in the research compiled by every agency that’s studied
the crime, Star Systems found that most victims’ problems had noth
ing to do with the Internet.
“There doesn’t appear to be any direct connection with the use of
technology,” Span said.
That would be the good news. The bad news?
“Access to somebody’s information can be facilitated by technolo
gy,” she said.
In othef words, computerized record keeping could make it easier
for workers in hospitals or financial institutions or corporate personnel
departments to sneak a peek at other people’s personal information.
but it is going
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