It’s news when an identity thief is caught (only 1 thief in 700 reported cases is caught and prosecuted), but when the victim catches her own thief, that commands a headline!
In a byline article in the Seattle Times yesterday, Ian Ith reports the story of Michelle McCambridge, a 23-year-old retail clerk and college student whose identity was stolen back in January this year. Just a week after Miss Cambridge learned that someone had opened credit card accounts in her name, the thief appeared at her counter at J.C. Penney. Cambridge recognized the woman from a surveillance photo she had been shown by a federal agent when she reported the incident.
In January 2008, The Reader’s Digest ran the story of Karen Lodrick, a San Francisco writer and human resources consultant, who recognized her thief at a Starbucks, and then chased the woman through the streets of San Francisco, while directing police on her cell phone. What happened to the thief? Karen tells the story better than I can. But I will tell you that Karen was not pleased, and she started her own crusade–Fighting Back Now–to educate people about this growing threat.
The FTC’s latest figures indicate that there were more than 9 million reported cases of identity theft in 2007. Other agencies and public sources point out that many of these crimes go unreported–indeed, it often takes years for the crime to be discovered, especially in child id theft cases–and that the actual number is much higher. Some authorities believe the number is closer to 20 million and climbing.
The identity thieves who never get caught are the professionals who deal in them on a wholesale basis. Millions of personal records are exposed each year through data breaches. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 13,164,689 records have been exposed so far this year in 363 separate breaches. Millions of these records, containing social security numbers, drivers license numbers, names and addresses, and other critical information, reach the hands of organized crime gangs who offer them for sale in underground markets.
Law enforcement agencies warn that although you can and should take common sense precautions, this crime cannot be prevented. The most important step you can take is to be prepared. Choose a service that does the work of recovery for you. Every bit of it until your life is back to normal. The amount of work is staggering for an individual. It takes hundreds of hours, and the costs can run into the thousands of dollars. Most of the services you see advertised give customers a recovery kit and a help line for advice, but you have to do the footwork, the phone work, the notifying work, the credit bureau negotiations…and on and on…all by yourself. Who wants that?
Don’t take chances with your identity. It’s your most important possession.