Program on Identity Theft

Today’s program featured Pittsburg Police Detective Richard Penn speaking on Identity Theft. He said they get 6-8 calls on this each month, and investigate each one. Texas has moved up to the number 4 state in the country for Identity Theft (the wrong direction) – California has the dubious honor of being number 1. This crime is on the rise in the Southwest, paralleling, Penn said, the location of the main production and use of methamphetamine, perhaps suggesting it is used as a way to finance the drug life.

Identity theft is a pain, besmirching your name and potentially costing you hundreds of hours of work and thousands of dollars to clear your record.

He noted that the crime is virtually unknown in Europe, probably because unlike US practice, the Europeans do not link personal identification and financial/credit information.

Some ways they steal your identity:

• “Pharming” – Thieves hijack a legitimate business or financial website and steal your information.


• “Phishing” – You get an email purporting to be from your bank or a business like Ebay. They tell you something is wrong with your account (some times that they’re about to cancel it) unless you click on the link and re-enter your account information. Although the link may look authentic, it’s not.


• Jury Duty – They call of an evening to tell you that you failed to respond to your jury summons. However, nice people that they are, they’d like to send you your jury pay anyway. Just give the nice person your financial data so they can “help” you.


• “Nigerian” scam letters – These purport to be from someone (frequently a relative of someone famous – I’ve gotten several from the “widow” of Sani Abacha, a former Nigerian dictator) who needs your help acquiring a large sum of money (usually in the millions). If you will handle the transaction through your bank, they will give you a percentage of the money. Instead, they empty your bank account for you.


• Mailbox theft – People steal pieces of mail during mid-day when you’re at work and your mail is innocently sitting in your box.

How to prevent ID theft:

• Get a secure post office box


• Shred financial documents before you dispose of them


• Guard your information, especially PINs (He told of an occasion where thieves wer able to use a fellow’s ATM card because he had his PIN written on a piece of tape on the card itself)


• Consult your credit report regularly


• Report any suspicious activity to the police


• Watch your credit card receipts (some businesses still use old machines that print your whole number)


• Limit the personal info you carry around.


• If you’re a victim, you can get a security freeze on your credit

Other sources of information:

• Federal Trade Commission


• Texas Department of Public Safety