Educational Video Helps Curb Identity Fraud

With identity theft now regarded as the fastest-growing consumer fraud in the nation, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is spearheading an outreach program to help people avoid becoming victims.

The program, launched in February, is built around a 23-minute video -- also available on DVD -- that describes the myriad ways in which thieves can obtain your personal financial information, how to protect yourself from being victimized and what to do if you are.

A recent survey by Gartner Inc., a private research and consulting firm in Connecticut, estimated that about 7 million Americans were victims of identity theft last year, an increase of nearly 80% from the previous year.

While no exact figures are kept by law enforcement agencies, Special Assistant U.S. Atty. Sandy Klein, who conceived and produced the video, said identity theft has reached epidemic proportions, largely because of the Internet.

The video program, along with two pamphlets, is being disseminated free to individuals and institutions.

Titled “Stop Identity Theft Now,” copies can be obtained by faxing the U.S. attorney’s Victim-Witness Unit at (213) 894-2744. A Spanish-language supplement also is available

So far, Klein said, about 5,000 copies have been requested by senior citizens centers, schools, colleges, libraries, houses of worship, police and sheriff’s departments, local prosecutors, banks, credit unions, lawyers, accountants and news media outlets across the country.

Klein is on loan to the U.S. attorney’s office from the U.S. trustee’s office, an arm of the Justice Department that oversees all bankruptcy filings in the nation. She spends most of her time prosecuting bankruptcy fraud cases, many of which involve identity theft.

Klein has witnessed the devastating effects identity theft can have on victims.

Often, she observes, it can take years to repair the damage to a victim’s reputation and credit record. Some people have even been arrested for crimes committed by identity thieves using their names

Klein said in an interview that she thought educating the public would mean “perhaps fewer innocent people would become victims.”

The government attorney has had a personal interest in fighting identity theft since her days in law school.

“I’d go home for the holidays and visit my elderly grandmother, who’d show me unsolicited mail she received telling her she’d won some contest she never entered,” Klein said.

“All she had to do to collect her ‘prize’ was to provide her Social Security number and other personal information.”

Klein said she had to plead with her grandmother not to respond to the mailings, telling her that they had all the earmarks of a scam.

The phony prize offer is just one of many ruses described by Klein on the video, which she narrates before a small audience.

One of her main points is that it doesn’t take much to steal someone’s identity -- just learning the person’s name, date of birth and Social Security number.

For that reason, she urges consumers not to provide personal information over the telephone or Internet unless they are dealing with people they know.

“Do not post personal information on the Internet, including on family trees and high school reunion sites,” she said.

While identity thieves have found the computer makes it increasingly easier for them to operate, many still resort to old-fashioned forms of snooping, Klein said.

Take “shoulder surfing,” which is looking over the shoulder of someone who is entering a personal identification number in an ATM machine.

“It’s important to know an identity thief doesn’t have to be right behind you to get that information,” Klein tells her audiences. “A shoulder surfer could be across the street, using binoculars or a camera.”

Identity thieves also resort to “dumpster diving,” Klein said, meaning foraging through trash cans and bins looking for discarded bank and credit card statements, especially preapproved credit card applications that many people throw away without opening.

“That’s because all an identity thief has to do is forge your signature and change the mailing address,” Klein said.

Stealing mail is one of the most common methods that thieves use to obtain confidential personal data, according to Klein, who encourages people to get locking mailboxes, if possible. And, she said, never allow mail to pile up while you’re away from home for any length of time.

After running up large debts, identity thieves will often file for bankruptcy in their victim’s name to avoid eviction or foreclosure or simply to put off creditors. That’s because when a bankruptcy petition is filed, all debt collection proceedings are automatically stopped.

To combat this type of fraud, the U.S. trustee’s office, a co-sponsor of the video outreach program, is requiring all bankruptcy petitioners to show photo identification, as well other verifiable documents, when they appear in court..

On average, identity thefts have a life span of about a year, enough time to wreak havoc on the lives of victims, Klein said.

In one extreme example, Klein cited the case of a California man who had been arrested five times for a murder and robbery he had not committed. The perpetrator was an identity thief who was using his name

Klein also provides specific instructions on what to do if you become a victim. File a police report immediately, she counsels. Close affected credit accounts, making sure the records show they were closed at the customer’s request. Next, contact Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, the three major credit reporting agencies, place fraud alerts in your file and submit a victim’s statement that must be added to your records.

Klein also lists an assortment of state and federal government agencies that may need to be contacted. They include the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, State Department’s passport office, Secret Service and U.S. trustee’s office.