"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.

"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.