Identity Thieves

If your identity is stolen, there's a good chance you know the thief. One out of seven cases of identity theft last year involved a relative, roommate, co-worker or some other acquaintance, according to an annual survey by California-based Javelin Strategy & Research. While ID theft overall fell 28 percent last year, "friendly fraud" experienced a slight increase, Javelin reports. With friends like these, you might rightly ask, who needs criminals? "It's something that people have to be aware of," says Anne Wallace, president of the Identity Theft Assistance Center, a nonprofit organization that helps victims and is supported by the financial services industry.

Dr. Joshua Zimmerberg says he's careful not to publicly disclose any personal information that could be of use to identity thieves. But soon, he might not have any choice but to have his finances published on the Internet for the world to see. Zimmerberg, a researcher and manager at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, is one of 28,000 federal employees in the executive branch who come under last year's Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge...

Here's another reason to file your tax returns as early as possible: an identity thief might beat you to the money. Identity thieves are filing fake federal returns using taxpayers' Social Security numbers and claiming tax refunds worth billions of dollars. The taxpayers only find out about it when their returns are rejected by the IRS because someone already received a refund using their identity. It's a big problem — and one that's rapidly growing, according to a report this month from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Tom Morgan tried to file his federal tax return electronically this year, but he kept getting an error message that advised him to double-check his Social Security number. Morgan thought the problem was a transposed digit or some minor glitch on the IRS' end, something he has experienced before. "It was a very generic error message," he says. "No urgency, no 'You're in big trouble now.'" Morgan says he didn't know until reading my column a couple of weeks ago that taxpayers receive this message after a thief has used their identity to file a bogus tax return and collect a refund.

Major identity thieves obtain personal information from retailers, financial companies and other businesses about half the time, a new study suggests, undercutting a common perception that potential victims should worry most about being scammed by people they know. The federally funded study being released today paints a complex portrait of the signature crime of the digital age, one that has been the top consumer-fraud complaint to federal authorities for six consecutive years. Of more than 500 offenders arrested by the U.S. Secret Service between 2000 and 2006, 8 percent were related to or socially acquainted with victims whose sensitive data were used to write checks, take out loans or buy cars.

Some teenagers, navigating the delicate stage between childhood and adulthood, are being taught a life lesson by identity thieves. "For young consumers - people who are just entering the financial marketplace - they really have to learn the skills to protect their own personal identifying information and not let it fall into the wrong hands," says Betsy Broder, assistant director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission....

Dr. Joshua Zimmerberg says he's careful not to publicly disclose any personal information that could be of use to identity thieves. But soon, he might not have any choice but to have his finances published on the Internet for the world to see. Zimmerberg, a researcher and manager at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, is one of 28,000 federal employees in the executive branch who come under last year's Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge...

Tips for avoiding identity theft With Maryland ranking 13th in the nation for identity theft crimes, I am glad the General Assembly has put together a task force to seek out solutions to protect our citizens. As a former counterintelligence special agent with the Army, I worked closely with the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to protect soldiers from identity theft. While the General Assembly investigates this years'-old problem, I would like to offer our community seven golden tips on protecting themselves from a would-be culprit.

SAN FRANCISCO - Identity-theft victims are often on their own when it comes to discovering the crime and can expect to spend months restoring their identities, according to a new survey of victims. More than half of victims surveyed said they discovered on their own that an identity thief had struck them, according to the online survey of 1,097 victims in 10 metropolitan areas, conducted for Nationwide Mutual Insurance by MarketTool. And 28 percent said they haven't restored their identities, despite spending an average of a year working on the problem.

A review of Secret Service files has found that half of the cases of identity theft involved technological devices, such as computers, scanners and digital cameras, and only 10 percent were done exclusively through the Internet. In 20 percent of the other cases, thieves stole personal data the old-fashioned way. Low-tech tactics included rerouting mail by sending change-of-address requests to institutions handling credit-card and bank accounts, swiping items right from mailboxes, and "Dumpster diving" -- going through trash for personal information that can be used to produce counterfeit documents and to open credit accounts.

Here's another reason to file your tax returns as early as possible: an identity thief might beat you to the money. Identity thieves are filing fake federal returns using taxpayers' Social Security numbers and claiming tax refunds worth billions of dollars. The taxpayers only find out about it when their returns are rejected by the IRS because someone already received a refund using their identity. It's a big problem — and one that's rapidly growing, according to a report this month from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

As the Baltimore County Council prepares to take up an ethics reform package proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, some members say they're wary of a measure that would make it easy for anyone to access their financial disclosure forms. Kamenetz wants to post elected officials' forms online starting in May, a key part of the legislation. Open-government advocates say such disclosure lets citizens easily examine potential conflicts of interest. Now, anyone who wants to see a Baltimore County official's form must go to Towson to pick up a copy of the document.

When an adult's identity is stolen, he or she often discovers the theft in a month or so, when the next financial statement comes in. But when it's a child who is being ripped off, it can be many years before the fraud is discovered. "Parents have no idea that their children's identities have been stolen until they have become adults and find that their credit report says they are in debt," said Steven Toporoff, an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission's division of privacy and identity protection.

If your identity is stolen, there's a good chance you know the thief. One out of seven cases of identity theft last year involved a relative, roommate, co-worker or some other acquaintance, according to an annual survey by California-based Javelin Strategy & Research. While ID theft overall fell 28 percent last year, "friendly fraud" experienced a slight increase, Javelin reports. With friends like these, you might rightly ask, who needs criminals? "It's something that people have to be aware of," says Anne Wallace, president of the Identity Theft Assistance Center, a nonprofit organization that helps victims and is supported by the financial services industry.

"No. Nope. No way." So exclaimed Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana when asked whether his state would participate in the federal Real ID program. Frustration with this misguided, expensive and unworkable federal mandate also compelled another governor, Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina, to call Real ID "the worst piece of legislation I have seen during the 15 years I have been engaged in the political process." If Real ID has any friends in the states, they're not speaking up. This sentiment is now percolating through the halls of Congress.

Here's a modern set of resolutions: Exercise more, eat healthfully, recycle and don't answer e-mail from Nigeria. Frauds are part of life in the digital era, but there are ways to guard against them, whether as obvious as ignoring promises of great wealth from distant lands or as subtle as avoiding real-looking counterfeit items sold online. Can you completely scam-proof your life? No. That's because it's partly out of your hands. Your personal financial data - which is worth gold, almost literally, to identity thieves - is scattered around the country in banks, credit bureaus, retailers, hospitals and other places that have been known to spring digital leaks.

Tom Morgan tried to file his federal tax return electronically this year, but he kept getting an error message that advised him to double-check his Social Security number. Morgan thought the problem was a transposed digit or some minor glitch on the IRS' end, something he has experienced before. "It was a very generic error message," he says. "No urgency, no 'You're in big trouble now.'" Morgan says he didn't know until reading my column a couple of weeks ago that taxpayers receive this message after a thief has used their identity to file a bogus tax return and collect a refund.

"No. Nope. No way." So exclaimed Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana when asked whether his state would participate in the federal Real ID program. Frustration with this misguided, expensive and unworkable federal mandate also compelled another governor, Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina, to call Real ID "the worst piece of legislation I have seen during the 15 years I have been engaged in the political process." If Real ID has any friends in the states, they're not speaking up. This sentiment is now percolating through the halls of Congress.

A review of Secret Service files has found that half of the cases of identity theft involved technological devices, such as computers, scanners and digital cameras, and only 10 percent were done exclusively through the Internet. In 20 percent of the other cases, thieves stole personal data the old-fashioned way. Low-tech tactics included rerouting mail by sending change-of-address requests to institutions handling credit-card and bank accounts, swiping items right from mailboxes, and "Dumpster diving" -- going through trash for personal information that can be used to produce counterfeit documents and to open credit accounts.

Major identity thieves obtain personal information from retailers, financial companies and other businesses about half the time, a new study suggests, undercutting a common perception that potential victims should worry most about being scammed by people they know. The federally funded study being released today paints a complex portrait of the signature crime of the digital age, one that has been the top consumer-fraud complaint to federal authorities for six consecutive years. Of more than 500 offenders arrested by the U.S. Secret Service between 2000 and 2006, 8 percent were related to or socially acquainted with victims whose sensitive data were used to write checks, take out loans or buy cars.