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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, March 14, 2005

ID theft: No one's immune, cases show

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two years ago, thieves broke into John Lim's car in Manoa and took only one thing — his checkbook.

Judge John Lim of the Intermediate Court of Appeals became a victim of identity theft after his checkbook was stolen from his car in Manoa. "Not only did they steal my identity but they turned me into a woman," Lim said, after a woman wrote a $300 check on his account.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Lim, a judge who sits on the Intermediate Court of Appeals, didn't discover it was missing until a woman began writing checks using his bank account. Bank officials intervened after the woman cashed a $300 check, but she was never caught, he said.

"I had to close all my accounts and open new ones. It was a big, big, hassle," Lim said.

The judge's loss is an example of how identity theft can affect anyone, in any profession, at any time. A U.S. Secret Service agent and a Honolulu police officer also have been victims of identity theft, officials here said.

Across the state, thieves are stealing mail, rummaging through trash and breaking into cars to get people's personal data.

Between January and March, the Honolulu Police Department's Financial Fraud Division, made up of nine detectives, took on more than 200 new cases.

MINIMIZE YOUR RISK

Although you probably can't prevent identity theft entirely, you can minimize your risk, the Federal Trade Commission says. By managing your personal information wisely, cautiously and with an awareness of the issue, you can help guard against identity theft.

What you can do today:

Order a copy of your credit report, which contains information on where you work and live, the credit accounts that have been opened in your name, how you pay your bills and whether you've been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy. Make sure it's accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized.

To obtain a free copy, go to www.annualcreditreport.com or call (877) 322-8228. You can also request a report in writing to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The three participating credit reporting bureaus are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Place passwords on your credit-card, bank and telephone accounts. Avoid using easily available information such as your mother's maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your Social Security number or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers. When opening new accounts, you may find that many businesses still have a line on applications for your mother's maiden name. Use a password instead.

Secure personal information in your home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help or are having service work done in your home.

Ask about information security procedures at your workplace. Find out who has access to your personal information and verify that records are kept in a secure location. Ask about the disposal procedures for those records.

If you believe your identity has been stolen:

• Contact the fraud department of any one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file. The fraud alert requests creditors contact you before opening any new accounts or making any changes to your existing accounts. As soon as the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other credit bureaus will be automatically notified to place fraud alerts, and all three credit reports will be sent to you free of charge.

• Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the ID Theft Affidavit when disputing new unauthorized accounts.

• File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others who may require proof of the crime.

• File your complaint with the FTC. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law-enforcement agencies for investigations. Filing a complaint also helps them learn more about identity theft and the problems victims are having so that authorities can better assist you.

For information, go to www.consumer.gov/idtheft

Source: Federal Trade Commission

"In almost every case (the identity thief) is involved with drugs," said Lt. Alex Garcia, head of the division.

"In the past (before the state passed an identity theft law in 2002), you get one (identity theft case) here, one there. Now, it is every day, and it just never ends."

The law, House Bill 2438, provides criminal penalties for those who steal the identity of another, and for those who obtain identity documents under false pretenses.

In Hawai'i, a troubling trend is emerging in which identity thieves forge checks and create fraudulent credit lines to get money for drugs, Garcia said.

As awareness of the identity theft problem grows, he says, so does the workload.

Fast-growing crime

Testifying before the U.S. Senate committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs last week, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said that a 2003 FTC survey showed that over a one-year period, almost 10 million people — or 4.6 percent of the adult population — had discovered that they were victims of some form of identity theft.

"Not only did they steal my identity but they turned me into a woman," said Lim, an avid surfer and former guitarist in a cover band who has presided on the bench since 1993.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the state, with much of it fueled by Hawai'i's crystal methamphetamine epidemic, law-enforcement officials say.

Identity thieves search for Social Security and bank account numbers, credit-card numbers or any other information that helps create a fraudulent credit line or the forging of a check.

Recently, Honolulu police broke up several fraud rings that were creating fake identification cards and fraudulent accounts to get money for drugs.

HPD's fraud unit made 2,677 total financial cases — including counterfeiting, forgery and bad checks — through Nov. 30 of last year. That includes 205 identity theft cases. In 2003, HPD logged 3,220 fraud cases, but no separate figure was available on identity thefts, police said.

In 2003, 649 identity theft cases were reported in Hawai'i and 214,905 nationally, according to the FTC. Statistics for 2004 are not yet available.

Millions lost annually

Hawai'i ranked 25th out of the 50 states in reported identity thefts per capita. Industry observers believe U.S. consumers lose hundreds of millions of dollars every year to scams. For businesses and financial institutions, identity theft alone cost $48 billion in 2002.

In February HPD busted a "career criminal" who they say had stolen more than $50,000 from area residents over the past decade.

The 30-year-old woman set up a "fraud factory" in her home, police said, and used a computer, color printer, scanner, laminator and digital cameras to manufacture fake IDs. She used the cards to get fake credit cards in other people's names or to cash counterfeit checks, police said.

She enlisted four of her "drug friends," whom police said were promised money in exchange for stolen mail. Police said the woman's accomplices would target mailboxes with outgoing mail because they believed them most likely to contain personal information.

Late last year, state and federal law-enforcement officers took down four of the largest and most elaborate fake-ID factories ever found on O'ahu.

The four factories were rooted out by patrol officers and detectives with the HPD's financial crimes unit searching hotel rooms and other locations in Waikiki and downtown during October and November. Based on the evidence recovered, police discovered hundreds of people had been victimized.

In addition to the loss of money, the damage done to an individual's credit can be devastating.

Consumers who are unaware that they have been identity theft victims can go years before they discover that their credit rating has been trashed. By the time the problem is unearthed and remedied, an individual's financial history may be ruined.

Check credit report

Most of the material needed to make fake IDs and counterfeit checks — from the plastic cards to the "Hawaii" holograms — can be bought at office supply stores or over the Internet, police said.

Albert Joaquin, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Hawai'i, said his agency has an identity theft task force that assists HPD with larger cases by providing federal resources.

"Some people never report (identity theft); others, only on a case-by-case basis. It is important that people check their credit once a year, if not twice," he said. He stressed vigilance because, like Lim, he knows that a career in law enforcement does not insulate anyone from identity theft.

"We have an agent right now who has had his identity compromised; no one is exempt from that (crime)," Joaquin said.

HPD's Garcia said a California man stole his Social Security number and used it on applications for work at several jobs. The man never filed taxes, and soon the Internal Revenue Service tagged Garcia for the money.

"They came after me for filing in California when I lived in Hawai'i," he said.

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.