Chapter 2 – Why Would Anyone Want my Identity Anyway?
“But who would want to be me?”
That is the question most identity theft victims struggle to answer. It makes sense — if you were given the chance to be anyone in the world, would you not want to be a movie star or some other high-profile, glamorous person? With identity theft, however, remember that a person is not actually becoming you in real life. They are simply becoming you on paper. They just want to use you to make a little money. If you are not famous, you are a much better target because you probably have not paid a team of financial advisors and Internet experts to protect you from people that want to steal your identity. The more “plain Jane” you are, the better.
There are basically two ways in which your identity will be used once it is stolen:
1. The person who steals a piece of your information can sell it for $10 to $500 (depending on who you are) to someone else who will use it.
2. An “end user” gets your information, either by stealing it directly or by buying it from someone who has stolen it, and it can then be used in a number of ways.
In either case, using your identity is illegal, but extremely beneficial for criminals. It comes down to one of two things: money or avoiding the law. When your identity is stolen, your life can be ruined. Prevention starts with understanding how your identity can be used. Let us do a quick quiz. How do you think criminals can use your identity? Which of the following scenarios do you think are potential threats and which are purely fictional events that could never happen?
• A waiter hands you the check and you pay with a credit card. On the way to the cash register, he swipes it through a small machine on his belt loop that looks like a pager. This “pager” records the number and your other card information, and at the end of the week, the waiter sells the pager for a few hundred dollars. Is this threat real or fictional?
• Someone steals your wallet in which you have been carrying your social security card. She then uses that number to help an illegal immigrant friend get a job and apartment in your name. Is this threat real or fictional?
• A college student studying computer programming steals your laptop. He is able to retrieve files that you deleted a few months ago. These files contain the password to your online bank account, which he proceeds to drain. Is this threat real or fictional?
• Using stolen information, a thief figures out your social security number. He then uses it to get a driver’s license and eventually is arrested and flees his bail. The police show up at your door, guns drawn, to take you back to jail. Is this threat real or fictional?
• Someone steals your mail and uses a free credit card offer to apply for credit in your name. In less than a week, you are thousands of dollars in debt. Is this threat real or fictional?
• Your child signs up for little league, and the coach says he needs his social security number for insurance reasons. You fill out the form, and the coach files it in his home office. The coach’s brother takes the pile of forms and assumes your child’s identity to open bank accounts, take out loans, and avoid the police. Is this threat real or fictional?
How did you answer? You might be surprised to find out that all the above scenarios can and do happen to many people every day. Your identity is not safe, and once it has been stolen, it can be used in many ways. Do not fall into a trap of believing that it cannot happen to you.
After all, your identity is a hot commodity. It does not matter if you are not beautiful, do not have that Mercedes or have been passed up for a promotion at work. Identity thieves do not care who you are. They just care that you are an easy target. You might not know that your identity has been stolen for years — decades even — or you might figure it out right away. Either way, the thief has made a quick buck, and when you steal hundreds of identities, you make enough money to support yourself on that alone. Identity theft is the fastest-growing white-collar crime in America, and that is why it is so important to stop being the easy target.
Making a Quick Dollar by Selling Identities
The fastest way to make money by stealing identities is to be the collector. Collectors do not actually want to use the identities. They just want the money. There are thousands of people willing to pay as much as $500 for your identity, so these criminals decide to cash in on this gold mine. Even for something as easy to collect as your name, address, and credit card number, collectors can make $10. Say you collect even just ten numbers a day. That is $700 per week and approximately $2,800 per month. Without even trying, identity thieves can be well on their way to quitting that office job or going on that dream vacation.
Another reason why this is appealing is that, if you are caught, you will be slapped on the hand a bit and let go. Sure, a second or third offender is going to get jail time, but in many states, the laws for selling important information are fairly lax. These thieves can rest easy knowing that, if they are somehow identified as an identity thief, they can simply leave the life of crime with few consequences. In fact, most of the people caught for selling information actually enter plea bargains. In exchange for information regarding the people buying the identities, they are released with little more than a few fines.
On top of that, it is hard to catch these collectors. Imagine that you begin to see some suspicious activity on your credit card. The charges were made online from an IP address in Boston and a car was registered in your name in a neighboring state. That is where you will first look to find the scammer. However, there is a chance that the waiter you met while on vacation in Hawaii was actually the person who stole your information. He simply sold it to someone on the east coast of the United States. Stopping the end user will be your number one priority, and unless you catch that thief and he or she tells you about the supplies (if that information is even known), you will never think to look in Hawaii for a culprit.
Even if you do find the next person in the chain, he or she may not have been the person to collect your information. Your credit card number may have passed through multiple channels to get to Boston. Maybe the first person just wanted to use your credit card information to open a store card account. The second person may have used it to access your PayPal account. The third person may have done something completely different. Everyone buying and selling along the way shares in the risk of getting caught, but few people will actually know where the card originated. To them, you are just another number.
The collector can really use any of the methods listed in this book as a way to steal your identity and sell it for profit. However, the quickest and most efficient way to go about collecting a large volume of numbers without any additional work is through skimming. Skimming is a practice in which your credit card is scanned quickly though a non-confidential device, which is then hooked up to a computer to retrieve data. I mention skimming here because this is strictly an offline offense. It is the real world equivalent to the virtual spyware or spoofed Web site.
The End User – How Can an Identity Be Used?
At the end of the line, someone has to use the identity. Otherwise, it would not be worth any money. Your credit card number, social security number, or other crucial information may be bought and sold a number of times before it finally reaches the person who is going to use it — the end user. An end user is putting the most on the line in terms of risk, but even if he or she pays $500 or more for a single piece of information, the rewards are great. One identity could bring in thousands or even millions of dollars. Beyond money, the end user can also use your identity for a number of other reasons as well.
According to experts, identity theft falls into four distinct categories:
1. Financial
2. Criminal
3. Cloning
4. Commercial
Each has its own kinds of end-users who want different things out of your identity. In some cases, the person who steals you identity can use it in more than one of the above ways in order to get the most money for your information. In other words, if there is a problem with your identity once, chances are that there will be lots of places where your personal information shows up across the country – or even around the world.
Opening Accounts and Clearing Out Accounts
One of the most common ways a thief can use your identity is to open up new credit card accounts or take out new loans. What exactly the thief does really depends on the amount of information he or she is willing to buy, as well as the time that he or she is able to devote to covering his or her tracks. There is the guerilla approach, or there is the long-term approach, depending on the goals of the thief.
The guerilla approach is to open as many accounts in your name as quickly as possible and then to make as much money as possible before disappearing. This all happens within a month, if not more quickly. After all, the bills will still come to you, and most people will call to report the problem the second they start getting huge bills for things they never bought — or even from cards they did not know they had. This type of thief does not have much time, but because credit card limits usually start at around $2,000, even opening five cards means a profit of $10,000 or more. How is that for a day’s work?
This can become easier and easier because credit card companies now have programs where you can pull cash from your card through ATMs or even cash checks made to yourself to pull money from the card. Purchases can be more easily tracked, but once the money is pulled, you will have a hard time tracking it down again. An identity thief will not use the ATM around the corner from his house. He or she may mail the card to an accomplice thousands of miles away or use the card while on vacation. Once the money is in a thief’s pocket, it is hard to reclaim it.
All someone really needs to get started is your credit card number, the expiration date, and the security number, which is found on the back of the card. Therefore, anyone who picks up your card can make a note of these numbers, which can then be used online to purchase any number of things. Thieves use public computers to avoid IP address tracking and have the items shipped to a PO Box, which can be registered under a false name and closed after the purchase is received. They can also cover their tracks by transferring money with the card to another account, like their online PayPal account. The more they bounce the money around, the easier it is to get lost in the shuffle. As they transfer the money and close accounts along the way, they hope that police will eventually reach a dead end and give up. Sadly, this is usually the case. A few thousand dollars may be financially devastating to you, but it is not enough money to justify police involvement for long if that case gets cold.
Someone who is willing to pay a bit more for a better piece of information — your social security number — can make even more money with the guerilla technique, because that allows them to open up new accounts in your name. Sometimes, you do not even need a social security number to do this. Do you receive pre-approved credit card offers? Thieves can dumpster dive, fill them out, and send them in, using a PO Box address. In less than two weeks, they will have a shiny, new card — or maybe five shiny, new cards — all in your name. Until you get that first month’s bill, you will have no idea what is going on.
Of course, if the thief has the card itself, it is even less work to steal from you. Gas pumps do not need a signature, and most cashiers never compare signatures or check identifications like they are supposed to be doing. Unless you miss your card right away, a thief can get away with a lot of charges in a relatively short amount of time. They will usually discard your credit card in 48 hours, since you are likely to report it missing, which puts a flag on the card.
Credit card accounts are not the only thing that should worry you. Identity thieves can also use your personal information to take out loans quickly. This is a much trickier thing to do, but it has happened in the past. In addition, thieves can open bank accounts, which they can use for illegal purposes. That way, if they are caught, they can just disappear, leaving you holding the ball.
If you have online accounts, these are most at risk for identity theft. You do not even need to know a person’s name to steal this kind of money — all you need is a screen name and password. By using spoofing, phishing, hacking, and spyware scams, thieves can easily trick you into releasing your information. In a matter of moments, they can drain your money into their own account and close your account, making it even harder for you to catch them. Unless you have your account information written down, you may not even have a number to give to the people you call for an inquiry. All you know is that you cannot get into your account, and all they know is that you do not technically have an account anymore. Every day you spend on the phone trying to work out the problem, it gets harder and harder to actually catch the person who committed the crime.
There is another approach to the opening accounts technique, but this is much, much less common. This technique is usually used with people who, for some reason, cannot open their own accounts. In many cases, it has to do with either bad credit or immigration (see below). In any case, they want to use your identity for a long, long time if they can, so they will make payments on time and work slowly so you will rarely find out that this is going on. Actually, if they do take out loans and repay them on time, this could help your credit — but I would not count on it. There is a reason they needed your identity to open an account in the first place.
Co-signers
Identity theft for co-signing falls into the same category as opening accounts, but the result is a bit different. Someone you know, often a spouse, child, or parent usually commits this type of identity theft, making it a personal, hurtful situation. Depending on the account and how the thief handles the situation, you could get lucky and actually have the theft help your credit. However, this best-case scenario does not happen often. It is much more likely that your credit will be damaged or the thief will begin to take more liberties with your identity, using some of the other mentioned methods.
Understanding why one of your friends or family members needs your identity to act as a co-signer is rather simple — no weird uses here. The person simply needs to purchase something, for whatever reason, but cannot get funding without a co-signer. Usually, this is because the person in question has poor credit. Using your identity, he or she forges the signature and releases your social security number. “You” are co-signing for an account you may not even know exists. In some cases, an identification number, like your social security number, is not needed; all it takes is a forged signature and some key information, like your birthday. For this reason, you need to always be aware of your credit score and credit history report.
Yes, someone stealing your identity could actually help your credit and you may never find out. This will only happen if the person who stole your identity does not fall behind on payments and pays off the debt quickly. However, it is likely that he or she will fall behind. Again, keep in mind that there is a reason why a co-signer is needed. If he or she were responsible and reliable with finances, a co-signer would not be needed. Furthermore, if he or she were trustworthy, there would be no need to steal your identity. You would just agree to be a co-signer honestly.
Fortunately, clearing up a co-signer theft is quite easy, because you can clearly prove that your signature was forged. In some cases, the thief will have an accomplice who pretends to be you when signing a contract in person or pretends to be you on the phone. In both cases, it is also easy to use a photo ID like your driver’s license to show that someone else impersonated you.
Unfortunately, however, co-signer identity theft is a bit harder to catch. Usually, the lender will have a fake phone number on file for “you.” So, you will not get called right away if there is a problem. Since most defaulted borrowers attempt to avoid lenders and collection agencies, this does not seem unusual in any way to the lender, and because you are just the co-signer and not the main person on the loan, your credit will probably be affected differently as well. This means you may not notice the differences right away on your credit score, especially if you have missed payments on your own loans, opened new accounts, and so forth. It may be easy to clear up co-signer identity theft, but it is not easy to catch it in the first place.
Using Your Name
Related to opening accounts and co-signing, an identity thief can use your name for other purposes as well. Imagine, if you will, that the identity thief has fairly bad credit but really wants a cell phone. In order to be approved, he or she uses your good name to establish credit. This works with just about any kind of account. When we think of identity thieves opening accounts in our names, we tend to think just of those thieves who open credit cards and max them out. However, account opening can go much, much deeper.
How else can an identity thief use your identity? Your name is not always about money. Sometimes, it is about authorization. Do you have access to certain things that other people do not? This is especially true in relation to your job. Government officials have to be extremely careful with passwords and personal information. Think about it – in spy movies, the good guys and the bad guys are always gaining access to “top secret” locations because they steal swipe cards or dress up like people who have access. It works that way in real life too. If you have access to some thing people want, they will stop at nothing to attempt to steal the information needed for that access.
On a more personal level, identity theft may just be about using your name. Many identity theft victims know their attackers, and although it is often about money, sometimes it is simply about a good name. For example, say you are a top professor in your field at a local college. One of your students, who has not exactly been a model scholar, has decided to try to get into grad school. Knowing that you will probably not write a very flattering letter of recommendation, he steals a document with your signature on it, writes his own letter, copies your signature, and sends it off. He also lists fake contact information for you so that everything is routed to his own cell phone. Then, he can pretend to be you on the phone. This may not be damaging to your finances, but it is damaging to your reputation when someone you seemingly recommended with bells and whistles turns out to be a horrible candidate for the grad school.
Get Out of Jail Free
Getting pulled over stinks. Imagine, though, that you have a few pounds of illegal drugs in the car and you see those flashing lights behind you because you have been speeding. You have about a second to make a choice: Either pull over and hope they do not notice or try to outrun the cops. Both situations are looking pretty bad to you right now.
Now imagine that you have a fake license and registration. You have registered the car in this fake name (or stolen it from the real owner), and you even have a fake social security number that matches the name on your license. Sure, you are inconvenienced. You will probably spend the night in jail until someone posts bail, and you will definitely lose whatever drugs were in the car, along with the car itself and your personal possessions. However, once you step out of the courtroom, you can simply disappear. Think of Joe Smith’s surprise in a few months when the police knock on his door to arrest him for not showing up in court. I bet the cops will be even more surprised to see that Joe Smith is an 80-year-old man who has no idea what they are talking about. You, on the other hand, are a few states away and already setting up a new life under a new name.
Having a fake identity is a luxury for criminals everywhere. Even if you slip up, you have a get out of jail free card in your back pocket. That is worth a few hundred dollars, right? All you need to get started is a name, address, driver’s license number, and social security number, and you can create almost any document you need to “be” someone else. The police will not know that you are not who you say you are until it is too late, and in the meantime, you can also use this information to open credit card accounts, buy items with loans, and even get a job.
Most of the criminals who use your identity for this purpose are not the people who actually steal it. Again, it passes through a number of hands before getting to the end user in most cases. In fact, the person who uses your identity probably knows nothing about you, other than your sensitive information. They do not know if you are a doctor with three kids or a deadbeat with no job. All they know is that you are someone that can help them get out of trouble fairly easily.
Unfortunately for you, that means that you have to spend time and money proving that you weren’t the Joe Smith originally arrested for the crime. In most cases, this is done by comparing you to “your” mug shot taken the night of the crime. However, at times, this can be inconclusive, meaning that you have to go as far as proving your whereabouts when the incident took place. There may even be a court appearance with the arresting officer to further prove that you aren’t guilty. Remember, in large cities, officers may arrest dozens of people every night. If you look remotely like the man or women they arrested, it will be hard to positively identify you as an identity theft victim.
Terrorism
Today, every country in the world has to worry about terrorism. The September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center proved that no one is immune to the grip of unrelenting terrorism. In a perfect world, people everywhere would get along, but different religious, cultural, and economic values create conflict. War can be scary, but terrorism is by far scarier, as it thrives on fear and power. You could be helping terrorism rear its ugly head. Yes, you read that right. You, or more specifically your identity, could make it possible for terrorists to carry out horrible acts of terrorism.
There a quite a number of ways that terrorists can use your identity to help their causes. They may use your identity for just one of these reasons, or they mean use your identity to completely make their plans possible. The worst part about this is the very terrorist your identity helps to fund may directly hurt you and your loved ones. Here are just a few of the ways terrorists can use your personal information:
• Financial Backing: Like traditional identity thieves, terrorists who steal your identity can use it to empty out your bank accounts, open credit cards in your name, and otherwise steal money. They can then use this money to fund any number of terrorist plans. While terrorists often gather funding from followers, stealing identities is an even better option, as it means that there are no connections between followers and terrorist leaders.
• Identity Cloning for Travel: Suspected terrorists are usually red flagged so that they cannot travel easily. However, by using a copy of your personal information, they can create all of the documents they need to travel from country to country. It is fairly simple for someone with the right information and the technical skill to create a social security card, a passport, a birth certificate, a driver’s license, and just about any other document you might need to travel within a country and worldwide. Insider sources have revealed that some terrorist organizations have five or more identities waiting and ready to go for each organization member. Not only will they use a fake identification, but they will use a number of fake identities. That way, they cannot be stopped and there is no record of travel by a single person. They will throw people off track however they can. Your identity is disposable.
• Authorization: Some special identities can have even more bearing on certain individuals. If you have access to something that terrorists want, you will be a special target for them. Really, who knows what they want. In some cases, they may want access to a specific physical area. In other cases, they will use your personal information to look like you on paper so that they will have access to a computer file. In still other cases, they want access to be allowed to do something, like order products only available to professionals or write prescriptions. Whatever the case may be, they will look for identities that have the authorization they need, and they will attempt to steal them.
Medicinal Uses
Identity theft can hurt you in ways other than financially. One of the most dangerous and damaging ways someone can steal your identity is for medical purposes. This really could be a matter of life and death. Like with almost every form of identity theft, the criminal can use your personal information in a simple fashion and discard it in a week, or the criminal can use your personal information for years, carefully covering his tracks so you never find out about it. Every situation is a bit different, depending on the thief’s particular needs and wants.
Signatures are the most basic form of identity. If the goal is prescription drugs, forging doctors’ signatures is the first step. However, this also involves creating fake phone numbers, fake addresses, and so forth. In any case, forging signatures of prescriptions is difficult, but the payoffs can be great. Prescription drug prices can be inflated ten times (or more) when sold on the streets.
There are quite a number of techniques that can be used to forge signatures, but in most low-level cases, it can be done simply by practicing and making your signature look close to that of the person you are intimidating. In most cases, the person requesting your signature will not be a trained specialist – “close” is all they need to allow you to pass. In the case of medical concerns, however, the signature does not mean much unless it is on a prescription pad, and can be confirmed with a call-in. This of course makes the process much, much harder for thieves. Nevertheless, it can still be done with a little planning.
Sometimes, doctors themselves cannot be trusted. Such was the 1999 case of Pennsylvania “doctor” David Tremoglie, for example. Tremoglie posed as a psychiatrist for a number of years, treating over 500 patients and writing thousands of prescriptions before eventually being exposed as a fraud who had no medical license. Every year, there are thousands of cases like this from across the country — of people assuming the identities of doctors using stolen identities, forged signatures, or botched records. Sometimes, doctors themselves also become the criminals. Here is just a sampling of a few other cases in recent years:
• In Michigan, scammer Dennis Roask used a fraudulent medical license for over ten years. He treated thousands of patients and was involved in over 200 medical surgeries, including a number of heart bypass operations.
• In the 1970s, pharmacist Gerald Barnbaum’s license was revoked. In response, he changed his name to Gerald Barnes, the same name as a prominent surgeon in California. He then proceeded to contact the real doctor’s alma mater, asking for a copy of his license, as his had been destroyed. He used these documents to wreak havoc, destroying the real doctor’s credit on a spending spree and practicing medicine in a number of clinics in California. As a result, some patients even died because the phony physician was not medically trained to make a proper diagnosis. He was eventually caught, but when released from jail years later, did the same thing all over again.
• In August of 2007, Dr. Trudi Shiu Newell of Sacramento was arrested for driving while under the influence of drugs. While investigating, police found that she also had a number of prescription pads from other doctors in her car and home. It is likely that Newell was assuming the other doctors’ identities to write out multiple prescriptions, although the case is still pending.
• In 2005, a doctor in Philadelphia was arrested on suspicions of stealing patients’ personal information. According to reports, he used credit card numbers, social security numbers, and home addresses to purchase items. He also stole information from co-workers at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, according to police. The damages totaled over $13,000 for the victims involved.
• Anil Mehandru of New York stole the name and Medicaid number of a doctor he scammed in a fake job interview in 1988. Mehandru billed almost $250,000 for medical services he did not use. In fact, Mehandru did not even pretend to be a doctor — he simply called in the charges from his one-room office.
Health insurance is another goal of identity theft that deals with the medical world. If you do not have health insurance, medical care can be extremely expensive. In fact, thousands of people across the nation do not get the care they need because they cannot afford it. Health insurance can help deter these costs, but if you cannot get it through your employer, it can be hard for a working family to afford decent coverage. The solution? Identity theft.
Does your health insurance card have your social security number written on it, or is your policy number the same as your social security number? Identity thieves are hoping that this is the case. By stealing your health insurance information, they can get the care they need on your dollar. It is common for family members to assume identities as well as for strangers to attempt to steal this personal information. Some thieves, once they have your social security number and other personal information, like your address, even open health insurance accounts. This is common if the thief needs a specific one-time treatment. After a month, you will get the bill in the mail and be alerted of the problem, but in a month’s time, the thief can really rack up some hefty medical expenses.
Do not feel bad for the people who cannot afford health insurance and resort to stealing yours either. Victims often find out that their health insurance was used to pay for cosmetic treatments like nose jobs and breast enhancements. The danger here is that victims may have a spending limit per year, and if an identity thief uses a chunk of that money, the victim will be in trouble if he or she gets hurt and needs medical attention.
This scenario can also be extremely dangerous. Whenever you go to the doctor, whether it is through health insurance or not, your charts are updated to reflect current and past medical conditions. Allergies, medical preferences and aversions, and pre-existing conditions are all listed in your file. When two or more people share the same identity, the file is not accurate for anyone. You could receive lethal medical treatment because of an identity theft. If you know your identity is stolen, therefore, it is important that your doctor be one of the people you call.
Lastly, identity theft in the medical world can be used for avoiding the law, just like when a thief is arrested. Imagine this scenario: Jane is pregnant, but she has been using illegal drugs, which will show up in her blood work. She already has two children at home and is receiving child support payments for these children, as well as welfare for the entire family. Being busted for drugs is a quick way to have your children taken from you and put into foster care where they cannot earn you child support money. She will also lose her state-funded help and her record will land her in jail, in rehabilitation, or with heavy fines to pay. Yet Jane needs to have her baby delivered in a sterile environment, or she puts herself and the newborn at risk. Even the worst mother in the world wants to save herself.
The answer to this problem is identity theft. If Jane arrives at the hospital with a fake driver’s license and fake social security number, the doctors will really think that she is Susan, the lady that baby-sits Jane’s children from time-to-time. The doctors do notice that Jane has drugs in her system, and they press charges. However, when the police show up at Jane’s home in a few days to arrest her, they do not find a baby or anyone that fits the description of Jane. They are, in fact, at Susan’s house. Still, they take her in for testing and questioning, and it is now up to Susan to prove that she was not the lady in the hospital. She recognizes the description of Jane, but it is too late — Jane skipped town immediately after having the baby. Unfortunately for Susan, the theft leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and her own children could be taken away until the matter is cleared. It is a sticky situation, and although Susan will not be responsible for any of Jane’s hospital bills, her medical records are incorrect, her health insurance premiums may have risen, and her credit has probably been damaged. Let us not forget that Jane is still out there, using drugs, with a newborn and two other children that most likely need medical attention.
Someone wanted by the police, worried about violating parole or otherwise in a desperate legal situation, like Jane, is willing to pay for a new identity. If they cannot steal the information they need, they will pay a collector to give them what they want. It is just another step in the chain of stolen identities. If they work quickly enough, they can resell your information to someone else.
Immigration
If your identity is not used for financial reasons, then it will most likely be used for immigration reasons. There are thousands of illegal immigrants in the United States at any given time, and without valid citizenship, they will be deported or, at the least, they cannot really do much in the way of working, renting a place to live, or obtaining a driver’s license. Immigrant identity thefts are some of the most profitable endeavors, but more people want to move to the United States every year, so business is booming.
When it comes to illegal immigration, it is most often your social security number that it at risk, and, in most cases, this number is used to get a job. Illegal immigration is all about flying below the radar, which makes it extremely hard to ever catch someone using your identity for immigration purposes. In fact, millions of people in the United States are using stolen social security numbers, and most of their victims have no idea. Unless there is a problem, you may not know for years.
Let us start at the beginning when it comes to identity theft and immigration. Immigrants first need to get into the country. This can be approved legitimately in a few ways, but most common is that someone will sponsor the immigrant as a spouse, fiancée, child, or other family member. Immigration is also possible for employment. In any case, it is becoming increasingly harder for immigrants, especially from some countries, which means that more and more people are resorting to illegal immigration. Unfortunately, your identity is put at risk when immigrants turn to desperate measures.
There are two main reasons people immigrate. First, it could be to reunite with family. The other reason? Better life opportunities. In other words, immigrants want to be safer, have more choices for a career, enjoy certain freedoms that their own country does not allow, and be able to choose better education. Looking at this reason more closely, what it really comes down to is money, and in the United States, you cannot work unless you have an identification number. You can get a work visa, but an easier route is to simply steal someone’s identity.
Immigration identity theft is hard to catch because most are not focused on actually “getting ahead” and using your identity to make their millions. They just want to work. So, your identity will not be used, in most cases, to open credit card accounts, apply for loans, and so forth. It will just be used to get an honest job. The hope of most immigrants is to make a better life for their children and to live in peace, not to become instantly rich.
Sometimes, people who steal your identity will sell a bundle of information to an illegal immigrant. This person can totally assume your identity and, of course, this kind of theft is personally the most dangerous. It is also especially difficult to prove you are who you say you are when someone else also seems to have documentation proving that he or she is that person. With immigration, however, most people do not have the time, money, or ambition to steal your identity on this level. In fact, they do not want to — it is much riskier, and getting caught is never a good thing. Instead, the immigrant will just purchase your social security number. The name and other specifics do not matter most of the time.
Some immigrants do not even “steal” your social security number; they just make one up. In other words, when it gets to that line on the job application, an immigrant can just fill in whatever numbers he or she wants, and by chance, it could be yours. Some immigrants even use numbers that are clearly fake, such as 123-45-6789 or 111-22-3333. Thousands and thousands of employees are getting away with this every day because their employers just never check up on the validity of these social security numbers. Illegal immigrants are often cheap labor, so it is easy to look the other way.
Many immigrants seek the use of children’s social security numbers because they are especially hard to catch. Your infant does not have a bank account or a job, so why would you check his or her credit report? That is exactly what identity thieves are hoping you are thinking. An illegal immigrant can get a solid 15 years (or more) out of a child’s number without getting caught. After the child grows up and gets to be old enough to start wondering about weird credit implications or notices caused by the illegal immigrant, the number will be tossed and a new infant will become victim.
Better yet are social security numbers for dead people. No one really checks up on those, so they are perfect targets. It is also easier for an identity thief to steal social security numbers from dead people. Relatives in charge of executing an estate are often extremely sloppy with how the social security number is used. Most do not know their own legal rights or the rights of the deceased either. So, it is easy for a thief to run down a list of the obituaries, contact relatives, and say they are from, well, whatever phony agency they want to create. You would be surprised at how many people will willingly give out the social security number of their deceased loved one. Few realize the damage that can be done.
In any case, once an immigrant uses a stolen or “made up” social security number, you would think that the victim would be notified, right? Wrong. Most of the time, there is no indication by the Social Security Administration or Internal Revenue Service that your social security number has been misused. There are simply too many cases with which to deal. Because the procedures are so misconstrued, it is too hard to notify everyone, identify the real and fake users, and do much more than note on the record that there may be a problem.
In other words, you will never know. Here is generally what happens: Around tax time, you file your federal taxes using your social security number. The government has your name and number on file, and it checks out, so you are sent through the system. At the same time, however, another person uses that same social security number. He or she may also use your name, but this is not always done. The IRS flags the information for one of two reasons – either the number does not match with the name or the number has already been used on a different return. However, they still collect the tax money, as they just file the return differently because there is obviously a mistake.
Millions of returns have mistakes, after all. That is why the IRS audits people — to try to check up on returns that look strange. A weird social security number could be the result of an illegal immigrant, but it could also be a simple human error, or it could also be a computer mistake. There is no way of knowing unless there is a formal investigation, and frankly, the IRS has bigger fish to fry. At least this person (or two people using the same number) is paying taxes, and if your return is rather simple, as is the case with most immigrants who have low-paying jobs, it is easy to see that the return is correct. It is more important to the IRS to go after the people not paying their taxes at all.
That does not mean that the IRS is bad or helping illegal immigration. It just means that they have set priorities. Unfortunately for you, it means your social security number could be used for decades without your knowledge. It is not a big deal until something goes wrong. Imagine the police knocking down your door on drug charges when the person they want actually lives thousands of miles away, or if the illegal immigrant decides, after a few years, that lying low is not worth it and that opening up a fraudulent credit card or bank account makes sense. Things can go from “not so bad” to “very bad” in a matter of days.
Is Identity Theft an Addiction?
I do not want suggest in any way that identity theft is excusable for any reason. That said, it can be an addiction. Some identity thieves start small, and before they know it, they are scamming people every single day. Stealing identities is a rush, and some people get addicted to that rush, the same way some people get addicted to gambling or other high-adrenaline activities. It is not always about the money. After stealing a few identities, a thief may be set financially for a few years, but that does not mean that he or she will – or can – stop.
Again, identity theft can never, ever be excused, even if the thief is a parent or the thief expresses remorse. Theft is theft. You would not excuse a bank robber for his or her crime. Just because identity theft happens online and is less personable does not mean that it is acceptable. Also, just because you are a victim that “fell” for an identity thief’s scheme does not mean that it is your fault. The thief and the thief alone should take the blame.
Although the prospect that identity theft may be an addiction is, in and of itself, an interesting concept. With the right research, can we help stop identity theft by simply making sure that conditions are not right for criminal addiction to flourish? It is something researchers everywhere are interested in studying more.
The Body and Addiction
It is fairly simple to understand how the body becomes addicted to a substance such as alcohol or cocaine. When your body is used to a substance, it becomes so accustomed to the substance in question that it does not feel normal when the substance is not in the body. Our bodies then go through withdrawal, which is a lengthy time during which the body feels ill due to not having the substance. But, like I said, that is easy to understand. The harder thing to understand is how an action can be an addictive substance in the same way a drug can.
The reason an action, such as gambling or stealing identities, can be so addictive is because the body releases chemicals in the brain when we are doing these things. That “rush” you feel when you do something exciting is not just an emotion. It is also a physical reaction. You may start to sweat or your heart may begin to race, for example. If the brain gets used to these chemicals, they can have the same effects as drugs. Yes, the body contains these chemicals naturally, but you still get that “high” feeling like you would with a drug. You will not overdose and die from the excitement brought on by a risky activity, but you will still be compelled to do the activity because the body will still feel a sense of withdrawal if you stop.
Many people struggle with addiction, and are not quite sure what is going on in their brains to actually cause this obsession. The fact is that addiction is a process that is actually happening in your brain. It might feel like all of the things that are going on are actually going on in your body – but actually addiction happens in your brain.
There are several parts of addiction that happen in your brain. The first part is the actual physical addiction. This part has several functions. For instance, when a person is addicted to smoking, they are addicted in part to the actual cigarette and having it in their mouths and hands. This is something that is often overlooked, and a big part of what happens with addictions.
However, the biggest part of addictions is in the actual brain. The substance, whatever it is, that a person is addicted to, is going to cause the brain to fire differently. In the case of addiction to an activity, like crime, the “substances” are natural to the body, not like nicotine or alcohol. The elevated levels of adrenaline and other chemicals are caused by excitement act like drugs. Different substances are going to create different connections, but what happens with addiction is that the actual connections in a brain will get replaced with new connections that are all made by the drugs. These new connections actually become the way that the brain works while the person is on the drugs. What happens when the drugs are taken away is that there are major problems with recreating the connections again.
The major problem with drugs in your brain is that you will be allowing your brain to create connections that are based purely on the chemicals and not on your actual brain connections. These fake connections are going to cause many problems because your brain begins to depend on these chemical connections, instead of your actual brain connections. These fake chemicals are going to work in pretty much the same way that they work currently – except they are going to be completely fake.
Therefore, doing drugs so often so that it will replace the connections in your brain is something that will create lifelong problems with your brain. The other thing this does is send signals to the rest of your body. These are the signals that make you feel as if you need to be using the drugs. These feelings are what cause most people to actually feel as if they need the drugs. These are the feelings that are the most dangerous, because they are the feelings that are hardest to ignore. As you are not able to have the drugs, you might get even worse feelings – which will not only mess up your brain but also the way that your body works. These are all part of what happens in your brain when you do drugs.
Addiction to Crime – Inexcusable But Treatable?
There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it – crime is inexcusable, even if you are addicted to it. The real question is this – is it treatable? Treating someone is not saying, “It is OK.” It is simply recognizing that there is a problem and that problem can be fixed with a little hard work.
Recognizing crime as an addiction is still relatively forward thinking. In fact, many people still question the legitimacy of such a diagnosis. How can an activity be an addiction? However, just as gambling has shown to be addictive, crime also produces chemicals in the brain for some people, creating a feeling of that “rush.” Over time, the body becomes addicted to higher levels of those chemicals, which can only be obtained when committing crime. Yes, there is choice involved. At the same time, though, by getting help to the people who need it, criminals will be less tempted to commit crimes and more likely to make positive decisions.
How Can Crime Be Treated?
There are a number of tactics at play here, but one of the most effective is the traditional twelve-step program. Made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous, this program is about taking personal responsibility for the addiction, making a real effort to overcome the addiction with the help of God, and righting wrongs. For thousands of people, the twelve-step program is extremely successful.
That said, it is not right for everyone, especially the non-religious. There are other programs that work well for criminals addicted to crime, and a number of correctional institutes run these rehabilitation programs for inmates. Sometimes, though, it is not about cracking the addiction to the “excitement” chemicals altogether – it is about finding healthy ways to achieve that same feeling to get that “fix.” After all, these chemicals are natural in the body, so they are not harmful. What are some other activities that can give you that rush?
• A meaningful relationship with another person
• Extreme sports, like skydiving or mountain climbing
• Boxing or other controlled fighting
• Stock trading
• Weight training
• Jogging or other cardiovascular exercises
• Riding roller coasters and other thrilling amusement park rides
Preventing Addiction to Crime
It may sound a bit strange, but one way to fight identity theft is to prevent crime among children in general. Children are being introduced to crime at younger and younger ages, and the result is more teens and young adults are addicted to that rush they get from committing a crime. In addition, many teens and young adults turn to identity theft as a way to fund other crimes. They need money, and because they grew up around computers, they know how to scam people older than them who may not know as much about the world of the Internet.
Prevention is key. When someone is already addicted to an activity, it can be extremely hard to break that addiction, and although innovative new treatments may help, your best bet is to stop the addiction to crime before it starts. You do not have to be a parent to help. If you are a responsible adult, you can become a Big Brother or Big Sister and be a role model to a child in your community that comes from a disadvantaged family. Of course, you probably already have younger relatives that could use the help. Even if you are not particularly a fan of children, just a few hours a week can make a big difference and is not really an inconvenience to you. You might actually enjoy spending time together. Look for an activity that you already enjoy and then simply include a child you know. Getting him or her off the street for a bit can help prevent identity theft in your own backyard. Here are some activity ideas – you can surely find something on this list that sounds interesting to you:
• Go to a sports game to cheer on a local team that you both enjoy watching.
• Take a fitness class together at the local gym or recreational center.
• Attend concerts, musicals, dance recitals, or other music-related events. You may be surprised at the sophistication level of your child (or young friend).
• Go to the child’s school functions. This is crucial if you are a parent, and if you are not, you may want to attend when a parent cannot. Children like to know that someone is there for support.
• Learn something new together, like how to surf or how to throw clay pots.
• Build something together. This is a good activity if you are already an accomplished woodworker and want to pass on your skills.
• Go fishing. Yes, it is cliché, but kids really do love to get out on a boat or sit by a body of water. Cook what you catch for an extra yummy treat or make the outing into a full-fledged camping trip.
• Go shopping together. You do not have to buy anything if you have a low budget. Window shopping is fine.
Am I at Risk?
Although the information about potential identity thieves and how your identity can be used is interesting, perhaps more important to you is learning whether are not you are at risk. The truth? Everyone is at risk for identity theft. It does not matter if you are young or old, rich or poor, or even dead. If you have an identity, it can be stolen, and there is a good chance that, sometime in your life, someone will try to steal it.
However, there are some things that put you at an even greater risk for identity theft. Check out the following points – if any of these apply to you, you are only adding to the risk of identity theft:
• You get a lot of junk mail, including several offers for pre-approved credit and debit cards every day.
• Your driver’s license has your social security number printed on it.
• You use the same password for almost every online site where you are a member or have an account.
• You do not own a shredder (or you own one that you do not use).
• You are listed in a Who’s Who guide.
• Any of the ID cards in your wallet that you carry all the time have your social security number printed on them.
• You have not balanced your checkbook in a long time.
• Your mailbox is not locked.
• You leave your desk at work often while you are logged into your computer.
• Your computer is not protected with a firewall or virus blocker.
• You do not follow most of the tips listed in this book.
Children at Risk
When it comes to identity theft, sometimes, unfortunately, the people most at risk are the people who are most innocent – children. Children are at risk for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, children are at risk because parents usually do not keep their information safe. While most adults would cringe at the thought of their personal information being posted on a Web site, many parents do not bat an eyelash at posting pictures, birth dates, and other information online. While you may think that the only one who reads your personal Web site is Grandma, the truth is identity thieves everywhere will try to take advantage of the personal information you have posted online.
A child’s personal information is often on record a number of places as well, making him or her an easier target. For example, schools keep records on hand to ensure that a child is getting his or her needs met, as well as to know what to do in the case of an emergency. You may have also had to provide addition personal information, like a social security number, to coaches or activities directors. To make matters worse, this information is not as highly guarded as you may think. How many secretaries does your school employ? Any one of them could have access to your child’s file. Teachers and administrative personnel, as well as any support people who can smooth talk the secretaries, can get their hands on your child’s information.
Children are also at risk because parents do not think to check their credit reports. Why should you check it? They do not have accounts, so nothing can be incorrect, right? Wrong. Identity thieves are banking on the fact that you probably will not check your child’s credit report, meaning they can take advantage of your child’s identity not just for days or weeks, but for years if they play it smart. There is some serious cash to be had with a child’s identity.
Not to mention that your child still may not be following the “do not talk to strangers” rule. Sure, your three-year-old may not know her social security number to give out to a stranger, but what about your 14-year-old? If your teen is online and chatting to people on the Internet, checking his or her e-mail, etc., chances are that he or she will run into some people who are very convincing as to why they need your child’s personal information. Children do not have as much life experience. Sadly, they are more easily duped.
Lastly, let us not forget that children are sometimes innocent victims to the people they trust most – their parents. It is very easy for a parent to steal his or her child’s identity, using it to pay for things when their own credit is not good enough. If that is the case, it means major problems for the child when he or she turns 18, because a parent is rarely caught. You may think that your spouse would never do something like that, but it is not a matter of love. It is a matter of feeling financially trapped. Parents justify things to themselves, so you should always be sure by checking your child’s credit. You never know when identity theft is going to strike.
Seniors at Risk
Many people are at risk for identity theft, yet it seems to happen more and more often to seniors. There are many reasons that seniors are more prone and more at risk to identity theft.
First of all, seniors have a lot of life experience – which also means that they have left a lot of information out there in the world. They have applied for lots of different things, and have given out their names, addresses, and social security numbers more often than people who are younger might have done. Furthermore, but it was only in recent years that lots of security measures were developed. This means many times in the past, seniors might have been giving out information to people in ways that can now be tapped, or were tapped at the time. With so much information out there, it is no wonder that lots of seniors are finding these old things coming back to haunt them.
Another reason that lots of seniors might be at risk for identity theft is that they have given their information to many businesses which might no longer exist, or which might be going out of business. When this happens, the information might not be destroyed in the right way, and this could allow a person to get the information. Due to the number of pieces of information that have been given out, it is hard to make sure that a senior is always safe.
There are other reasons that a senior might be more at risk for identity theft, in the here and now. Technology is unfortunately one of these factors. The fact remains that as technology increases, many seniors cannot keep up with it and stay behind. They might not feel it is important to learn how to use computers or the Internet, or they might learn about these things but only to an extent. Seniors are the population that has the smallest number of technology savvy people. However, they also tend to have computers, hooked up to the Internet. This makes them susceptible to fraud and identity theft because as they are using the computers for what they do know how to do, others might be stealing their information. This happens more often than seniors realize.
The final reason that seniors are more at risk for identity theft is they are the group that is least likely to pay daily attention to each of their accounts. Many of the seniors have been using the same accounts for years, and know exactly when their money will be coming. They have also not paid attention to things that have been on direct deposit or direct payment plans for years. When they have been making payments or getting payment in the same amount for many years, they might not check their bank accounts often. They are also less likely to check their bank accounts online, which means discrepancies are often not noticed until it is too late.
At Risk from Beyond the Grave
You would think that you could get some rest after you are dead and gone, right? Oddly enough, the deceased are one of the major demographics that has their identities stolen. Identity thieves see this as an easy target. After all, how often does a dead guy check his credit history report?
Stealing from the dead is something that has been going on for quite some time. It is something that happens quite often, and they are dong it in much easier ways than you might think.
The easiest way that people steal from the dead is to find social security numbers that have belonged to dead people. This happens often because it sometimes take longer to report the deaths of people – and during the time before the deaths are reported, the numbers can be stolen and used for other things. This is something that can be devastating to lots of different people.
Another way that people steal from the dead is by stealing the social security numbers of people who have recently died. This is often done with the elderly people who might live in retirement homes. Often, the social security numbers of these people are collected, and what happens after that is a huge problem. Sometimes, when someone runs a retirement center or another place where they have access to people’s social security numbers, they will take it upon themselves to steal their social security checks, which happens often. Along with stealing the checks, they will continue to receive the checks after the person has been declared dead. Sometimes, they will be able to get around the various problems with this because they will simply tell the government that the person has changed addresses, or that they have moved. Many times, people collect social security checks for many years.
Identity thieves even steal the social security numbers from people who have long since been dead. They can get these from many different sources. Often if they get them from the social security office, or if they find them from old bills and records, they will be able to use this identity for many reasons. They can take the social security numbers and create an entire identity for this person. Many times, a person will use these numbers in order to get credit cards, bank accounts, or other things from the people that they have stolen them from. This is something that you might have to take into consideration as you begin to deal with this type of identity theft.
There are many ways that criminals can steal from the dead. When this happens, there is going to be a major problem. This is because when a person has had their identity stolen, there could be a lot of money that is missing. However, when a person gets their identity stolen after they are already dead, it is going to be much harder to notice that it has happened. Many times, it will take quite a few years before relatives and others notice that money has been gone.
It works the other way around, too. If your identity is stolen, you can be reported dead when you are very much alive and well. Death also becomes a problem if your social security number has been stolen by an immigrant, who then passes away. It is already difficult to get a decent mortgage. Imagine trying to do so from beyond the grave. Few people want to work with someone who is dead, and on paper, you very well may have kicked the bucket.
You might want to consider how you can work to save the dead from identity theft. When you have someone in your life who has died, the worst thing that you might be able to imagine is that their identity might be stolen. This is something that is actually a real fear, and it is something that happens often. When you want to protect your loved ones, you have to be sure that you are doing everything right.
It is often hard for you to protect your loved ones who have died from identity theft. However, there are some things that you can do to make sure that they are as protected as possible. You should actually begin this process if someone in your life is getting older or if they are sick. When this happens, you might be someone who is in charge of their finances or other things.
No matter what, you want to be sure that you have taken control over their finances in a way that will be useful. The first thing that you should do when you take over someone’s estate – whether they have died or whether they are sick – is to make sure you have taken every chance you have to protect them. As you begin to transfer their money and take control over their accounts, you want to be sure that you are destroying all of their information that you do not need. As accounts are closed or transferred, you want to be sure that this information is not available for someone to steal.
You also want to go through all of their records and make sure that there isn’t anything laying around or out in public that might be harmful. For instance, you want to be sure that you have taken all of the bank account information of someone who has died and destroyed it all. Do not simply throw it in the trash, because there is a chance that someone might find the information and use it to steal your loved one’s identity. When you are dealing with the affairs of someone who has died or of someone who is incapacitated, you should make sure that you close all of their accounts. Any credit cards that they left behind should be paid off, and then closed. Any remaining cards should be cut and thrown away. All of the bank accounts and information should also be closed and destroyed. Any information that is left laying around, or any accounts or cards that are left open, will be targets for criminals and identity thieves.
When someone has died and you are in charge of their estate – or if you have access to any information about them – you want to make sure that you check their accounts and credit report often. You want to be sure that you are doing this for several years.
Risky Business: The Top Six Business Security Breaches
Every day, there are hundreds of cases of identity theft. Most days, there are thousands.
But some days, there are millions.
How are millions of identities stolen in a single day? The answer is easy – identity thefts move from targeting individuals to targeting businesses. By using computers to hack into corporations or simply by stealing sensitive documents or software, identity thieves can crack codes and steal millions of identities in a single day. Until their customers or employees begin realizing the problem and the problem is linking to the business in question, the identity thieves can continue stealing tons of identities. So, if you’ve ever had personal information stored in any kind of database for any reason and for any amount of time, you could be at risk. To illustrate how easily this could happen to you, let’s look at the top six business security breaches in recent years. Remember, new cases are popping up every single day.
Case #1: A Bad Situation That Could Have Been Worse
In early December 2007, William Gary Sullivan admitted to stealing what he estimates as 8.5 million account records from his place of work, Fidelity National Information Services. When he found out he had access to so many identities, he set up a business front called S&S Computer Services. He then filtered the reports to his own business where he sold them to another company, who, in turn, sold them to major marketing agencies.
The subsidiary where Sullivan worked, Certegy Check Services, may have never discovered what he was doing had it not been for an intuitive business customer who noticed a correlation between certain check and junk mail. The good news here is it appears that Sullivan only sold the reports, which included names, addresses, and financial account information, to people who were interested in creating solicitation lists. The bad news is the sensitive information passed through at least four hands before making it to the end user. So far, no one has reported problems, but there very well could be instances of identity theft tied in with this case.
Bottom line? In this story, the result was bad but it could have been worse. The real problem is that oftentimes, it is worse. The people who have had their information breached in this instance can count themselves very, very lucky.
Case #2: Nigeria Gets Some Help
Teledata Communications was at the center of a huge security breach in 2005, when employee Philip Cummings, who worked at the help desk, began selling personal information to some of the people running the infamous Nigerian scams. The identity thieves hit about 300 people hard, and many more (around 30,000 people in total) had their information compromised.
Cummings’ part was quite easy. Teledata Communications is a company based in New York which provides software for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion so consumers can run credit checks. For $30 each, he sold passwords, which led the thieves to all sorts of credit information. The ring apparently made an estimated $75 million over the course of a few years by draining people’s bank accounts, opening credit cards in other people’s names, and convincing unknowing consumers to send money by providing accurate personal information to “prove” that this was a legitimate opportunity.
Case #3: Unsuspecting Scamming
ChoicePoint, an information colossus since 1997, was scammed by some clever criminals in 2005. These swindlers were good enough to get past the stringent security measures ChoicePoint had in place to protect their clients’ information.
Through a cunning hoax perpetrated by these individuals, ChoicePoint unwittingly sold personal and financial facts of over 145,000 clients to con artists behind a nationwide identity theft plan. At least 4,500 residents in the region of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia were among those involved. Names, addresses, Social Security information, and some credit file details were included the information that is available for misuse.
ChoicePoint scrambled to try to minimize the damage and offered its clients free credit reports and free credit-monitoring services for the next year. ChoicePoint is still looking at various ways and measures to make their data more secure in the future, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for revised rules and regulations to protect people’s sensitive data from this type of fraud plot in the future, citing this ChoicePoint security breach.
ChoicePoint legitimately sends its data in the form of reports to justifiable sources for the purposes of police investigations, journalism, and, ironically, fraud detection. The identity thieves who scammed ChoicePoint were posing as lawful debt collection agencies, insurance representatives, and small business personnel. They use other individual’s identities and credentials to make them appear acceptable and valid in their information requests. Unfortunately, they become so knowledgeable about how to get around the system that even the experts are fooled sometimes.
Specialists in the information fields speculate this was only the beginning and that the fallout from such charlatans could reach mammoth proportions. More and more agencies rely on information collection specialists to help detect and defeat possible threats to our homeland security protection system. Federal law enforcement and intelligence officials can be helped at times by the collection of some of this data.
Several senators have asked the Federal Trade Commission to allot new rules to ChoicePoint, as rigorous as those imposed on credit reports. ChoicePoint has said they will do what it takes to ensure information is handled with the utmost care and caution to try to prevent any future recurrences. However, with identity thieves getting smarter and smarter, insiders working to help damaging cases, and many other breeches of security every year, are we really safe from another ChoicePoint-like attack? Most agree that the answer is no.
Case #4: A Clothing Store Is Hacked
Although security measures taken by many stores have been dramatically beefed up over the past few years, many are still prone to attack, as unlucky clothing retailer TJ Maxx found out in early 2007. Hackers broke into their system quite easily, accessing the credit card information for thousands if not millions of customers.
And the real problem? Once they broke into TJ Maxx’s computer system, they could steal data from almost any sector of the company. TJ Maxx is just a single segment of the TJX corporation, so customers shopping at Marshalls, HomeGoods, AJ Wright, Winners, and HomeSense were also affected.
The TJ Maxx problem was due largely in part to the fact that the company runs a wireless network, as almost all do. This means you can see the network from any laptop as you’re sitting outside the store. If the network’s credit card system is using an outdated program, like TJ Maxx’s was, you can easily look up on the Internet how to hack into that system.
Credit card companies issued directions on how to update security software over two years ago, after the first attempts at security were hacked multiple times. The newest system is, as of now, secure. However, less than half of all retailers have actually taken measures to update their systems. That means when you shop, your information is not protected over 50 percent of the time.
Have companies seen the destruction that can happen to a company that does not update its system? Has the TJ Maxx fiasco taught anyone anything? Maybe – but there are still thousands of retailers who do not protect your information, and it is impossible for you to know which ones are safe and which ones are not. Critics are calling for changes to be made so instead of the retailer holding onto your information, the credit card company does it. After all, it is easier to update a handful of systems found at the credit card companies than it is to expect millions of stores around the world to pay to update their systems every few years.
Case #5: Steps in the Wrong Direction
Although security for your data is supposed to be top of the line, many companies are continually having problems with identity thieves hacking into their systems. In June 2005, DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse), a major shoe retailer, announced that customers who had paid by check or credit card over the last two years should put their credit reports on fraud alert. Over 1.4 million credit cards and debit cards and an additional 96,000 checking accounts were at risk after hackers made their way into the DSW system and stole information. In total, 108 locations were affected.
The good news is social security numbers were not stolen for those who shopped at these stores. However, the information that was stolen was enough to allow thieves to make online purchases and money transfers, easily draining accounts in just a few hours. Driver’s license numbers were also stolen, so consumers were also recommended to call state authorities and ask if any duplicates had been created in the past few days.
Unfortunately, the most difficult part of this problem was that most of the information stolen was not connected to a number and address. While this may seem like a blessing, it was also a headache, since it meant the store could not efficiently contact all of its customers to inform them about the security breach. As a result, thousands of people lost money, some losing all of their savings to the criminals.
Case #6: Point of Sale Is a Point of Disgrace
In April 2005, there was a security breach with the Polo Ralph Lauren company. This affected people who had Discover cards, MasterCards, and Visa cards. It was a security problem that involved a point of sale system at Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.
The credit card companies that were involved notified their customers as soon as they knew about the security breach. However, it took quite some time for the companies to figure out exactly how many cardholders were affected, and how much damage was caused. In fact, this incident was so huge that it affected many, if not most, of the credit card companies in the world.
The credit card breach came up because of issues with point of sale software. These software problems were found at a national U.S. retail chain. What happened was the credit card information that was used at this store was actually stored in this software. As the information was stored, it could then be used by other people who were trying to steal identities. What happened was that people who were working at these stores were able to gather the information and then they were able to keep the information for themselves. Later, the information was used to make other purchases, to fill out other credit card information, and to generally use identity theft in order to allow the other people to gain.
As soon as the breach was discovered, the police in the area as well as the Polo Ralph Lauren company were working together to discover who had stolen the information and where it had gone. As soon as it was discovered that the information had been kept at this point of sale retailer, the information that was found was destroyed. However, some of it had already been used in a way that was not authorized.
When the breach was discovered, HSBC bank started to send out notices to at least 180,000 of its card holders to tell them that there had been a problem, and there was a chance of potential identity thefts. This also included Visa cards, MasterCards, and Discover cards.
The security breach led to a lot of other things that happened with the credit card companies. For one, the various types of credit card companies started to check for this point of origin software. This would help them make sure that they were able to avoid this type of thing happening in the piece. It is very important that these things happened because this security breach was one of the biggest in history. When this happened, it was a huge problem for the credit card companies as well as for the people who were affected by it.