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Other Consumer Issues:

Identity Theft

1. What is identity theft?
2. Federal and State laws
3. Prevention – steps you can take
4. What to do if you are a victim

A. What is Identity Theft

The Federal Trade Commission defines identity theft as someone using your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security Number or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The FTC estimates that as many as 9 million Americans are affected each year, and the crime is growing rapidly. Anonymous business transactions, vast numbers of mail and phone solicitations and expanding electronic access to personal information provide golden opportunities for crooks to steal and misuse the identities of others. Stolen Social Security numbers and other identifying information can be used to ravage existing accounts and run up debt in victims’ names. A victim often discovers the fraud only after being denied credit or being contacted by collectors because of debts about which he knew nothing.

Some ways identity thieves operate

The old-fashioned way: They steal a purse, wallet, mail from a mailbox (bank or credit card statements, new checks mailed from a bank, pre-approved credit card offers, tax information.)

A more sophisticated method is to use a special storage device while processing a credit card transaction.

Some thieves pretend to represent a financial institutions or other company, contacting you by email or telephone because they "need" personal information such as a social security, bank account number or credit card number (This is called "phishing"). Other thieves divert billing statements and other critical mail by filing Change of Address cards with the Post Office. These are only a few of the ways for a thief to find victims.

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