PVCC Puma Press: March 2004

With a 64 percent increase in identity theft cases in the past 10 years, the Phoenix Police Department recently gave a seminar on preventing identity theft and fraud to PVCC's staff and students.

Phoenix ranks number one in per capita identity theft crimes by the Federal Trade Commission in a 2003 study with more than 5,000 victims that year. Even institutions are not immune. In January, The Arizona Republic reported that a man pleaded guilty to defrauding three community colleges of $300,000 in student aid loans by the use of prison inmates' identities.

Phoenix Police Department detectives Michael Eckenroth of the forgery department and Frank Smith of the office of document crimes revealed the simple to increasingly sophisticated methods thieves use. They followed up with a list of tips which the public can use to protect itself from one of the fastest growing crimes in the country.

Eckenroth said that thieves will smash windows of cars parked at easily accessed trailheads, such as Camelback Mountain, and leave wallets under seats, allowing victims to think that nothing had been stolen. Nothing except their identity which the thieves put to good use.

Smith said that meth users "dumpster dive" and smash mail boxes looking for checks, personal documents, blank credit card applications and any document with a social security number. They'll fill up garbage sacks with the papers and take off. Detectives call these "tweaker bags" crammed full with thrown out receipts, credit card offers or any document with a name and social security number. Meth users spend endless hours piecing together identities to support their habit and consider finding a document with a social security number to be "pure gold."

Eckenroth said that stolen identity uses include: check forgeries, cleaning out bank accounts, buying vehicles, renting an apartment, creating credit card accounts, opening new utilities, buying cell phones and gaining employment. Thieves can easily counterfeit checks, credit cards, I.D.'s and social security cards once they have acquired your name, address, PIN numbers or SS number.

A thief once told the detectives that it can be just as simple as walking into a big store, such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot, apply for instant store credit using someone else's name and address at the customer service kiosk. He would buy several hundred dollars worth of merchandise, walk out and sell it on the street.

Smith said that thieves now use computers to create vast new opportunities to steal your identity. Not much more sophistication is required, just carelessness on the victim's part. With the rise of on-line banking plus on-line loan and credit card applications, potential victims must be more vigilant in tracking their credit history. Hackers search for compromised passwords and information over the Internet.

The detectives said that many of these thieves may not have much formal education but can be very computer literate. The FBI will investigate computer crimes, according to the detectives.

Both detectives mentioned skimmers, which are small card reading devices that grab data from a credit card's magnetic strip and can be purchased over the Internet. Organized crime members hire college students to work at the better restaurants and clubs, give them a skimmer and pay $100 for each name.

One detective mentioned a clever thief who recently rigged an ATM machine in Tempe, near ASU, with a concealed camera and watched while victims entered their PIN numbers and used a skimmer over the card slot to steal the credit card data. He stole thousands of dollars before he was caught by authorities.

Smith said these identity crimes cost credit card companies millions of dollars every year. They can write off losses as the cost of doing business in a tax write-off but individuals are not so fortunate. It can take years to clean up a ruined credit history.

The detectives listed a series of tips on guarding your identity. Their number one tip is "Buy a cross cut shredder and shred all junk mail, credit card offers, mortgage loan offers and any document with your name, social security number and date of birth." Other excellent tips include:

Remove your social security number from your driver's license and any other sources when possible;
Scratch off credit card account numbers from store/restaurant receipts;
Send mail from work or a U.S. postal blue box;
Never give out your e-mail or online account password;
Buy and install firewall software for your computer;
Get a credit report on yourself at least twice a year.

Detective Smith and Eckenroth stressed that one can't be too careful in protecting one's credit. They said even if the credit card companies cover your losses, you should report the crime because many thieves will have stolen 20 to 30 identities before they are caught and charged with a crime.