I•
T•
’S Y•
O•
U•
R
William J. Lynott They Want Your Identity PHOTO: CORBIS
In the real world, it’s difficult to stop an identity thief who zeroes in on you as a victim.
T
HEY’RE after you. If they catch up with you, they aren’t likely to punch you,
shoot you, or pistol-whip you, but they will hurt you. Theirs is a special kind of violence. It’s not physical, but it can be mighty painful. They are identity thieves, and they would like to make you their next victim.
Like all predators, identity thieves stalk their prey from seemingly innocent hiding places. They strike without warning and disappear into the night with their ill-gotten gains. It may be weeks or months before their victims realize their plight, and when they do, the financially painful road to recovery begins. It can take months or even years to travel the road to recovery, and the ultimate cost can be catastrophic for many victims. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, some 8.1 million Americans—3.5 percent of the US population—were victims of identity theft in 2010. Although that figure is down 28 percent from the 11 million people who
6
were victims of identity theft in 2009, that’s still a lot of people. And identity theft can go far be- yond theft for gain. According to the FBI, at
least seven of the
nineteen terrorists responsible for the 9/11 tragedy were using sto- len identities.
How It Works Unfortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of intelligence to steal someone’s identity. With some simple but key information about you, an identity thief can obtain false identification and begin us- ing your identity. With your iden- tity, the thief can then purchase costly merchandise in your name. Even though you didn’t make all those purchases, which could to- tal thousands of dollars, you alone have the responsibility of proving your innocence. And the job may be much harder than you could ever imagine. The case of John Wilson (not his real name), for example, is typical of the problems that can be caused when a person’s iden- tity is stolen. Wilson’s nightmare
began when he received a call from a bank investigator. The caller wanted know why Wilson, a retired US Air Force colonel, was not making payments for a Jeep Cherokee he had bought in Dallas the year before.
Wilson was sure it was all a mistake. He had never bought a Jeep Cherokee and hadn’t been to Texas in more than thirty years. Wilson was telling the truth, but the investigator had no way of knowing that. All he knew was that Wilson’s name and Social Security number were on the con- tract. And that wasn’t all. More calls soon informed Wilson and his wife that other merchandise worth more than $113,000 had been purchased using Wilson’s stolen identity.
Clearing Your Name
Unlike the legal philosophy that declares the accused innocent until proven guilty, credit prob- lems caused by identity theft can work the other way around. The victim can be presumed guilty, and the burden of proving his or her innocence can fall on the victim’s own shoulders.
In the Wilsons’ case, Wilson was only able to clear his name after three years of doing paper- work and incurring thousands of dollars’ worth of legal fees. Dur- ing that time, Wilson’s excellent credit rating was ruined, and be- cause of this, he and his wife
had to pay cash for everything they bought. Their application for a loan to build a vacation home was turned down, and although the
problem was eventually
cleared up and their credit rating was restored, they had to deal with insistent debt collectors along the way and had to endure the indignity of having their home put under surveillance by investi- gators looking for the Jeep they had never even bought.
Protecting Yourself As bad as it was for the Wilsons, however, it could have been worse. Some identity theft victims have actually been jailed for crimes committed by the thieves who stole their identities. More commonly, identity theft vic- tims suffer injustices such as hav- ing their drivers’ licenses sus- pended or being turned down on job applications.
Could this happen to you? Could a criminal take over your identity and create these kinds of problems for you?
The answer is, yes. It could
happen to you, and you may be carrying the most important tool that a thief needs to steal your identity right in your wallet or purse. That
tool is your Social Security number.
There are a number of other things that can help a thief steal your identity, including your (Continued on page 76)
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84