An Identity Crisis

Signs of the Information Age: One of the emerging home appliances for today’s savvy consumer is a paper shredder.

“I picked up one for 60 bucks at Costco,” says Mari Frank, an attorney from Laguna Niguel. “I shred anything that has my personal or financial information, including unsolicited, pre-approved credit card applications. I shred each document into two different bags before I throw it away.”

A little extreme? Not for Frank, who spent more than a year, hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours rebuilding her once-spotless credit record after becoming a victim of identity theft.

That’s the crime of stealing personal information--name, address and Social Security number will do for starters--to fraudulently obtain credit cards, ATM cards, blank checks or the cash proceeds from mutual funds or insurance policies.

The perpetrators use their false IDs to rent houses, buy cars, sign up for cellular phone service and obtain more false IDs. The victim, whose credit record is left in shambles, has to pick up the pieces alone--a job so thankless that support groups are starting to form around the country.

“It’s a depressing topic--because there’s nothing you can do to assure you won’t become a victim,” says Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, where ID theft has jumped to the No. 1 complaint on hotline calls. “Most victims don’t even know how the perpetrators got their identity numbers.”

Identity theft now accounts for an estimated 15% to 25% of total credit card fraud losses annually. Yet, Givens said, no one keeps track of dollar figures. “Generally, law enforcement doesn’t pay attention to this crime--they go after robbers with guns but not robbers with paper--and card issuers and department stores will write off the losses.”

“I’ve become a mini-expert, not by choice but by necessity,” says Frank, whose trouble started when a Ventura woman substituted Frank’s name but kept her own address in responding to a credit card offer--and was issued a $10,000 credit card.

Frank eventually utilized her legal expertise in writing more than 90 letters to various institutions to get her records cleared up. She now is compiling an identity theft survival kit to help future victims.

“They’re not getting help anyplace else,” Frank says, “and the crime is proliferating.”

Jon Golinger, consumer advocate for the California Public Interest Research Group, says more help is on the way. “This is the consumer rip-off of the Information Age, and legislators are starting to sit up and take notice,” he said last week, noting that his own group has made identity theft a priority.

“There have been several hearings this fall, and a special task force is looking at the problem. There has already been some legislation--the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act has recently been tightened--and more is being talked about.” A state statute tightening credit regulation goes into effect in January.

In the meantime--even while acknowledging that there is no guarantee of success in an era when personal data is available everywhere from the dumpster to the Internet, and can be transmitted like lightning--Golinger offers a short list of protective steps:

* Rip up any document with personal information, such as receipts, bank slips and credit card offers, before pitching it into the wastebasket. Golinger concurs with Frank: “If you want true peace of mind, get a shredder.”

* Limit the data lists you are on. Notify each of the three credit reporting companies (Equifax, [800] 556-4711; Experian, formerly TRW, [800] 353-0809; and Trans Union, [800] 680-7293) that you don’t want your name sold to other marketers.

This “op out” notification will cut down partially, but not completely, on the mail you get offering new credit applications.

* On a regular basis, order your credit report by mail from these reporting companies to monitor for changed addresses and fraudulent information.

* When creating a computer password, don’t use common identifiers, such as your birthday or the last four digits of your Social Security number.

* Don’t have your driver’s license number printed on your personal checks (some banks offer to do this).

* Pay attention to your monthly billing statements. “Bank and credit card statements are important protective tools to catch fraud,” says Golinger. “Look for anything that seems odd and question it right away. You need to be on top of your accounts more than ever.”

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If you are a victim of identity theft, said Golinger, move swiftly:

* Call the fraud units of the three credit reporting companies listed above and ask that your account be flagged so that you will be notified of any credit applications.

* For each instance that your credit has been violated, contact the appropriate credit card company, then the place where the card was used. Ask that accounts be closed with the notation “at the consumer’s request.”

* Contact both the local police and the sheriff, make a report and get a copy of it. “It’s the law,” says Golinger. “They have to take the report.”

* Do not pay any bill or portion of a bill which is a result of identity theft.

“To extricate yourself,” Golinger says, “you’ve got to be a savvy consumer.” And “you must be assertive with the credit card, banking and credit reporting industries as well as everyone else you contact.”

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Resources

* The California Public Interest Research Group provides a free fact sheet on fighting identity theft. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to CALPIRG, 926 J Street, Suite 713, Sacramento, CA 95814. Or find the sheet online at https://www.pirg.org/calpirg.

* “The Privacy Rights Handbook” by Beth Givens and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (Avon Books, 336 pages, $12.50); available by calling (800) 238-0658 or online at https://www.privacyrights.org.