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Identity Theft:
Saving Face

Wednesday, March 6, 2002

Help hard to find amid nightmare of identity theft

By MICHAEL GIUSTI | News-Journal Staff Writer

ORMOND BEACH — Candice Feinstein has lived the nightmare of victimization before. But spending hours trying to convince police to help after a criminal stole her identity gave the gut-wrenching experience an unpleasant new twist.

Feinstein and her family moved to Ormond Beach a few months ago after she was carjacked during a bank robbery in South Florida. But unlike the shower of publicity and help that came after the armed robbery, nobody stepped forward to help the 49-year-old after she discovered someone had bought a computer using her name and Social Security number two weeks ago.

"When I first tried reporting the crime to the police in Daytona Beach, I kept getting bounced around. They were telling me that I could not file a report in that city because I live in Ormond and that I wasn't really the victim anyway," Feinstein said.

"I told them, excuse me, I am a victim here. It was such an ordeal trying to get someone to listen. I am a tough cookie, but I ended up in tears," she said.

Feinstein's struggle mirrors that of the nearly 6,000 Floridians who fall victim to identity thieves each year. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Florida was second in the country only to California in the number of identity theft complaints filed in the last year.

And like Feinstein, ID theft victims often find a lack of information and understanding compels them to invest countless hours and immeasurable frustration to avoid paying unauthorized charges racked up by criminals.

"It has been a nightmare. Just a nightmare," Feinstein said.

Identity theft is a new and scary name for a crime that has been around for decades, said Tom Degan, president of Peninsula Bank in Daytona Beach and current president of the Florida Bankers Association.

In its most basic form, ID theft is using someone else's name without their permission to open an account with a credit company, utility company or bank. Degan said that while he has heard of cases of criminals commandeering personal information that date as far back as 1978, only recently has the phenomenon mushroomed into a national epidemic.

With the growth of electronic databases filled with Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and a virtual windfall of personal information, identity theft has become a priority for national, state and — just recently — local law enforcement.

"It used to be that law enforcement would look at these cases and say it is the bank that was the victim because they are the ones out the money," said Wayne Ivey, Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent and director of the statewide identity theft task force. "That was true until the state passed legislation in 1997 making it a felony to use someone else's personal information for profit."

In an attempt to curb the use of public records as an information source for identity thieves, the Florida House and Senate both have bills pending that would exempt Social Security numbers from the state public records laws.

Legislators hope such an exemption would prevent a large share of cases and prevent more people from becoming victims.

With identity theft cases, victims add up quickly, Ivey said.

"To begin with, the state is generally a victim because a fraudulent driver's license is usually used. Then you have the person whose name is being dragged through the mud. The bank has to eat the charges, and so they are a victim. And then whatever merchandise was taken makes the merchant yet another victim," he said.

Feinstein has no clue who took her Social Security number to buy a $2,000 Gateway computer, or where the crook got it.

"My purse has never been lost. All of my family's Social Security cards are locked up in a safe. I balance my checkbook every month. I don't bank on the Internet or over the phone, but somehow they still got it," she said. "I didn't think I was at risk. I never suspected I could be a victim."

Still, when Feinstein returned home from work on the evening of Feb. 13, she was surprised to hear a message on her machine telling her to call a toll-free number about her Gateway settlement.

"I thought, Great, I might have won the lottery or something,' " Feinstein said. "When I called, they said I owed over $2,000 for a computer I knew nothing about. You can imagine my shock."

After repeatedly explaining to a handful of operators that she never purchased the computer, Feinstein was finally told the computer was delivered to a Daytona Beach address in June of last year and her account was more than 6 months delinquent. Ormond Beach detectives told Feinstein they would look into the address, but so far, no arrests have been made.

As best she can figure, the only time Feinstein used her Social Security number was when she applied for jobs after she moved here. Coincidentally, the computer was purchased over the telephone shortly after Feinstein mailed out handfuls of job applications, each rife with personal information.

"I hate to think that someone would have taken my information from a job application and done something with it, but I just can't think of where else it would have come from," she said.

After filing a sworn statement backed up with the Ormond Beach police report she finally convinced an officer to fill out , the computer company has agreed to forgive the loan and absorb the loss. That loan was overdue for six months and every credit reporting agency has now put a credit "scarlet letter" on her report.

The battle to have the information removed from her credit file is just beginning.

Preventing ID theft

Anyone who suspects a thief has made off with personal information should make a series of calls within the first 24 hours to the following institutions or agencies:

— Your bank — let them know to stop all withdrawals.

— Your credit card companies — tell them to stop all new charges.

— Police — fill out a report for theft or fraud, including all applicable account numbers, and make sure to get the officer's name.

— The three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian — to put a fraud alert on your account and not allow new accounts to open.

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