One thing that Ellen Brisson takes away from her 2-year ordeal with identity theft is that like with other crimes, there often is no warning and no way to stop it.
Brisson, a Berkley resident, had her identity stolen in 2000 through documents taken from an insurance company. The woman who stole her identity was able to get a driver's license in Tennessee and use that along with Brisson's Social Security number to open more than a dozen credit accounts and spend $60,000 in her name.
Consumers are especially vulnerable to credit card fraud and identity theft during the holidays when stores are more crowded and people are rushed and distracted, she said.
"People are not real aware. A friend recently told me about a man who was doing an entire loan application on his cell phone in the middle of the mall," said Brisson, who now has an identity theft consulting business.
Identity theft can happen in a number of ways -- through a stolen wallet, an unscrupulous employee working at a business with your information on file, and Internet scams called phishing or pharming that try to get you to reveal personal information on a link in an e-mail.
The Federal Trade Commission found in 2003 that nearly 10 million people became victims of identity fraud and that 27.3 million victims were identified in the prior five years. Identity theft costs consumers about $5 billion a year, and financial institutions lose about $48 billion a year.
Identity thieves possibly could have obtained more than 51 million records in more than 80 data breaches since February, reports the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. The breaches include ChoicePoint, Bank of America, LexisNexis, Polo Ralph Lauren, DSW and Michigan State University's Wharton Center.
Some experts and consumers blame banks and stores that offer instant credit and other conveniences that enable identity thieves to run up fraudulent bills.
"I do get annoyed at the blame-the-victim mentality that you sometimes see," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer and advisory organization, on Friday. "It is the merchants and online companies that need to take care to prevent fraud."
While more retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are asking for identification when people pay by credit card, Givens advises consumers to stay vigilant and alert.
Jan Selles, manager of JCPenney at Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, said during an interview at the mall on Oct. 27 that retailers should ask to see identification to verify the shopper matches the credit card.
"It really is up to the individual to safeguard their information," hesaid. "It is a matter of slowing down what you are thinking and doing to remember to get your credit card back. We tell our associates that no matter how busy it is, they have to focus on the customer and make sure they give the customer their credit card and receipt."
Givens advises people not to use a debit card when shopping because if they become victims of fraud, their entire checking accounts could be wiped out. And it may take several weeks for the bank to conclude an investigation and restore the account balance.
"It is the season to watch out for fraud," Givens said. "People are doing much more shopping than they do during the rest of the year; they have to be more vigilant."
"I still can't make any charges outside of town or over a certain amount without a security call," she said. "I find it comforting, I think. It is an annoyance that I had to set it up in the first place."
This is cache, read story here
