Fraud investigators say identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country and Lane County’s rate is higher than the national average.
Saturday people all over Lane County took advantage of a free and open event to protect themselves against identity theft.
Allen Perkins is a Fraud Investigator for SELCO Community Credit Union, he sees thieves use all kind of personal information like, “receipts of any kind any pay stubs, any old school documents, applications for financial aid.” Perkins says, “There was about 9.7 million people affected in 2002, it’s a growing crime.”
Saturday afternoon more than one hundred people got rid of their sensitive documents at SELCO Community Credit Union’s second annual Shredfest in Springfield.
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The burgeoning problem of identity theft is spurring new lines of insurance to cover the rising costs of consumers reclaiming their good names.
“Most of the insurance companies, the bigger companies, are offering it,” said John Schapperle, president of Island Insurance Cos. “I think the trend is following the scare in the nation … there’s a lot of publicity about it.”
Coverage is not just for wealthy individuals, Schapperle said. “It can happen to anybody and everybody at any time.”
art In addition to Island Insurance, most local insurers are offering coverage, said state Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt.
Hawaii cases of identity theft shot up 188 percent from 2001 to 2004, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The most dramatic year-to-year increase — 167 percent — occurred between 2001, with 222 reported cases, and 2002, when 593 people reported stolen identities to the FTC.
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Students from Serra High School learned you’re never too young to be a victim of identity theft.
“Even babies have Social Security numbers and anyone can get that,” student Melanie Ng said.
Ng and the other students learned this important lesson and more from the experts at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
“They can get into your stuff, your bank accounts–get your numbers that wouldn’t be good,” student Greg Murray said.
College students also learned to protect their privacy on the Internet.
“They should never tell their names, give their address, when people are home, (their) favorite mall or what sports team they’re on,” Susan Koehle, with Microsoft, said.
That’s because 10 million people in the U.S. become victims of identity theft every year, a cost of $50 billion, according to 10News.
However, a new change in federal law may help cut the loss.
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The New Jersey law firms of Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman and Lynch Keefe Bartels filed a complaint against Bank of America on Wednesday June 1, 2005 in New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division, Mercer County (Jones v. Bank of America; Docket Number not yet available) on behalf of Trenton resident Cindy Jones. The attorneys announced their intention to seek class action status to represent other identity theft victims as well against financial services giant Bank of America for damages resulting from the theft of tens of thousands of customer information files.
Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman, with offices in Princeton, Mount Holly and Nutley NJ, and Lynch Keefe Bartels, with offices in Shrewsbury, New Jersey will serve as co-counsel in this matter and seek class action status by the Court.
Ms. Jones, a customer of Bank of America, was informed that her personal financial information, including her Social Security number, were found in the possession of individuals arrested by Hackensack, New Jersey police in the growing scandal. Of immediate concern to her attorneys, are potential unauthorized use of Ms. Jones’ identity between the times of the theft and the arrests, the need (and cost) to carefully monitor Ms. Jones’ credit reports for unauthorized activity during the next several years, and the availability of Ms. Jones’ identity for her own use.
Hackensack, New Jersey police announced that more than 676,000 customers were affected when bank employees illegally sold information on more than 1 million accounts from 4 financial services companies: Bank of America, Wachovia, PNC and Commerce Bank. Police first announced arrests of 9 people, including 7 current and former bank employees, on Monday, May 23, 2005.
“Bank of America reported alerting about 60,000 customers who were included on computer disks discovered by police, bank spokeswoman Alex Liftman said Monday,” reported the Associated Press “Banks Notify Customers of Data Theft” by Paul Nowell, May 23, 2005.
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A clerk at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute illegally accessed patients’ records and used their personal information to buy cellphones, run up bills, and damage their credit records, a Suffolk Superior Court jury found this week.
After a three-day trial, the jury deliberated for little more than three hours Wednesday before convicting Marlene Honore, 29, of Woonsocket, R.I., of six counts of identity fraud, prosecutors and her lawyer said yesterday.
Two of the counts were for similar crimes she committed while working at Logan Airport, where she stole the identities of an airport employee and the woman’s daughter, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors tried Honore for 12 counts of identity fraud and four counts of larceny, her lawyer said.
She was acquitted of the other charges.
”The victimization of patients by hospital employees is an egregious breach of trust,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement.
”More people are victimized by identity fraud than almost any other crime, and, unfortunately, most don’t even know they’ve been targeted until too late.”
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A Connecticut House Bill 6831, recently passed by the House and the Senate, will help protect citizens from bank fraud and identity theft. “Unfortunately, the crime of identity theft has been occurring with alarming frequency in Connecticut and in many other states around the country for the past few years; and, with the increasing popularity of online shopping and bill-paying, bank fraud involving identity theft is also becoming more common,” said state Rep. John E. Stripp, R-135. Stripp, who represents Weston, is a member of the General Assembly’s Banks Committee, where the measure originated.
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“Both offenses threaten the financial security of thousands of Connecticut residents. If enacted, this measure will enable law enforcement agencies and financial institutions to share information about new identity theft and bank fraud threats and take action to protect consumers from fraud and other unauthorized transactions or claims. I’m very pleased that the House acted in a timely manner to approve this bill,” said Stripp in a statement.
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