Beginning next year, financial institutions and other businesses that extend credit must implement programs to prevent and mitigate identity theft.
Common ways to steal
>> Credit card: opening new account or running up charges on existing account
>> Phone, utilities: opening new account
>> Financial institution: writing counterfeit checks or taking out loans under another person's name
>> Government: using stolen identifying information to obtain a driver's license, official ID card or government benefits, or to file a fraudulent tax return
>> Other: using stolen Social Security number to get a job, rent a house, obtain medical services or provide false information to law enforcement
Safeguards
>> Shred unneeded financial documents and paperwork with personal information.
>> Don't carry Social Security card with you; don't write Social Security number on a check.
>> Provide Social Security number only if necessary; ask to use another identifier.
>> Don't give personal information on the phone, through the mail or over the Internet unless you know with whom you're dealing.
>> Avoid disclosing personal financial information when using public wireless connections.
>> Never click on links sent in unsolicited e-mails; type in a Web address you know.
>> Update firewalls, anti-spyware and anti-virus software on home computer.
Fraud responses
>> Place a fraud alert on credit reports, and review the credit reports with the three consumer reporting companies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.
>> Close accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
>> Speak with someone in the security or fraud unit of each company involved.
>> Follow up the call with a letter and include copies of supporting documents.
>> Send letters by certified mail, return receipt requested, to document what the company received and when.
>> Keep a file of correspondence.
>> File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which shares information with law enforcement nationwide to find and arrest identity thieves. The FTC can refer victims' complaints to other government agencies and companies for action, as well as investigate companies for violations of laws the agency enforces.
>> File a police report. Bring a printed copy of your FTC theft complaint form and supporting documentation. A detailed police report or police report together with the FTC theft complaint can be used to establish a victim's legal right to permanently block fraudulent information from appearing on credit reports, make sure that fraudulent debts do not reappear on credit reports and prevent a company from continuing to collect debts that result from identity theft, or selling them to others for collection.
>> Contact the Franchise Tax Board or the secretary of state in states where the frauds occurred. Send documents they might require.
Sources: Javelin Strategy and Research; Federal Trade Commission; Identity Theft Resource Center
Regina Huerta has never worked in Wisconsin, California, Utah, Iowa, Missouri or Arkansas.
Her Social Security number says otherwise.
At least 10 people, likely illegal immigrants, have used the Omahan's number over the past decade to land jobs with meatpackers, supermarkets and manufacturing plants. Some used her name, others made up a name, but the common thread was her Social Security number.
Huerta is caught up in identity theft, a crime that claimed 11 million adult victims in the United States in 2009 and about $54 billion in losses to businesses, government and individuals. The number of victims was up 11 percent from 2008, when 9.9 million adults were victimized.
We're all vulnerable, in many ways.
Thieves pilfer names, Social Security numbers and credit or debit cards from wallets, the trash and ATM machines. Highly sophisticated cybercriminals hack into companies' databases. Con artists use phones and computers to extract personal information from the unsuspecting.
Huerta, 41, traces her problem to losing her purse in the late 1990s. She can't remember the precise date, in part because she considered it more of a nuisance than a catastrophe.
She got another ATM card and a duplicate Social Security card. She didn't report the theft to the police.
Jaimee Napp, executive director of the Identity Theft Action Council of Nebraska, said Huerta's lack of initial alarm wasn't unusual. Fewer people knew of identity theft in the '90s; it wasn't recognized as a crime by the federal government until 1998.
Huerta's Social Security number probably was sold on the black market and purchased by illegal immigrants looking for work, Napp said, and her Hispanic name was just a bonus.
Linda Foley, co-founder with her husband, Jay Foley, of San Diego's Identity Theft Resource Center, a national organization that specializes in difficult cases, said experiences such as Huerta's can take years to fix, even with help from experts.
“This is the extreme,” Linda Foley said. “This is when the thief literally becomes your evil twin.”
Huerta first became aware of a problem in 2001, when the Internal Revenue Service said a W-2 federal tax form submitted by an employer showed she had earned money in California.
“I sent a statement saying that was not me,” Huerta said. “I assumed it was some confusion or a mix-up.”
But that wasn't the end of it.
In the years that followed, the IRS ordered her to pay taxes on income she never earned. Retailers and lenders hounded her for payments on cars, satellite TV services and student loans she never obtained.
One ID thief apparently worked at a department store and left on bad terms. When Huerta applied for a job at another store in the chain, officials told her the company's computer records showed she wasn't eligible to be rehired.
Huerta has contacted, sometimes multiple times, companies that showed she worked for them and businesses that claimed she purchased merchandise.
Although she hasn't paid the bills amassed by other people in her name, the incidents have hurt her credit score and prevented her from getting a credit card, buying a house and landing jobs, Huerta said.
“They got a new car out of it. I couldn't get anything,” Huerta said
She sympathizes with undocumented workers who come to the United States for jobs, but employment often comes at the expense of an identity theft victim. “I feel sorry for the people getting picked up, but it's not just their lives being affected.”
In recent years, Huerta concentrated the battle to regain her identity on the Social Security Administration, to obtain a new number, and on the IRS, to clear up the tax situation.
“I just thought it was common sense,” Huerta said. “I can't work in four states, six different places, all in the same time period. Unless I have a private jet — and then why would I be working at these places?”
Social Security and IRS officials declined to comment directly on Huerta's case, citing privacy concerns, but they acknowledged that her years-long ordeal was possible.
A spokesman for the IRS said its tools for detecting ID theft and restoring victims' work and tax histories are improving.
In 2008, it started flagging accounts of taxpayers who proved they were victims of identity theft. That helps the agency filter out income forms and tax returns based on stolen information. The agency also started a special unit to help victims.
Someone wanting a new Social Security number is required to prove she needs one, said John Garlinger, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration. The government wants to ensure that the person requesting a new number isn't trying to evade bankruptcy legal action or delinquent child support.
In addition, old Social Security numbers never completely disappear, Garlinger said. That can cause confusion for businesses and government agencies with whom the person deals.
Huerta said Social Security officials in Omaha told her two years ago that she qualified for a new number because she presented evidence showing that her original number was stolen.
She said she called or visited that office every month for a year. Finally, late last year, officials acknowledged that Huerta's application had “dropped through the cracks,” she said.
The World-Herald contacted Social Security officials in April about Huerta's case, and the agency contacted her. She got her new Social Security card Tuesday.
Huerta hopes having a new number makes the next 10 years easier than the past 10.
“I'm kind of like shocked right now,” she said.
Contact the writer: 444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com
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