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>>Somebody took that away from me. In the a blink of
an eye, in less than a month, this woman destryoed what I have worked for
for fifteen years. >>I mean, your credit
score is basically
all you have. >>I was mugged. They got my
information. >>It can really negatively
affect your life
. >>Then they went off with the information
and they basically became me. >>You feel this loss of control that someone's
out there
pretending to be you and doing things in your name that can
come back to haunt. >>Somebody was using my name and all my personal
data. >>They'd done it all.
>>I just didn't even know where to start. >>They had a long record.
>>It's a terrible feeling. >>Identity Theft. It happens when your personal
information is stolen and used
without your knowledge
. It's a serious crime that can cost you
time and money
, ruin your credit
and destroy your good name. >>When I was a victim of identity theft, my
mail had been stolen. >>I was shopping at a grocery store, and someone
took my wallet.
>>I think he made a purchase and they stole all my debit card information.
>>MY Briefcase had been tampered with, and when I looked in it, I saw that my passport
and my drivers license, which I had in there, had been taken.
>>BRODER: Identity theft happens when someone takes
information about you and then uses it to commit fraud.
>>Identity theft is very serious.
>>BRODER: we know that identity theft in its various forms has affected
ten million people in any given year, and what that means in dollars is that it's
a loss to businesses of about fifty
billion dollars. On top of that, victims of identity theft have spent five billion
dollars trying to undo this harm .
>>MAJORAS:Everyone needs to be conscious that identity theft is real.
>>When you get news that your identity has been
potentially stolen, it's very, sort of
this open ended problem that has occurred and you don't know
what's gonna come of it
. >>MAJORAS:No one's immune
, which isn't to say that were powerless. There's
a lot we can do
to
deter
detect and defend ourselves. >>MOSKERINTZ: My identity was stolen when
I was mugged. It is pretty traumatic, especially how
it happened to me. They got my information
, and it happened, and they went off with the information
. They basically becamse me when it went to
charging items in stores. >>BRODER: Identity thieves
can only take advantage of you if you give them information, or if they
obtain information about you. So what you what to do
is take steps to make it less likely that your information falls into
the wrong hands. There are many ways that you can do that.
The first is to stop and look
in your wallet. What are you carrying around, and if you lose your wallet,
are you giving someone else the opportunity to
commit identity theft? So avoid carrying around
any identification has your social security number on it in your wallet, because
that can be used very easily and efficiently by identity thieves.
>>Robinson: They could have your name, they could have your
birth date, but if they don't have those
your social security number they're not gonna get very far
. All they really need is a social
security number and they can misspell your name and still get credit. The only place
that social security card number should
be is in your head and protected somewhere at home where you keep your
other valuables. >>BRODER: If someone asks you to
provide a social security number, ask them why they need it, how they're gonna
keep it, how they're gonna safeguard it,
because you don't want that number to
fall into the wrong hands. >>COLE: I had an incident that I thought was
a valid reason to give out information, until they asked for my social security number.
I went as far as the first three digits and then I said, "Wait,
they don't need that," and I hung up. >>This is a crime. You have to think when
you're at home, protect your identity. Don't leave around
your person documents there for,
somebody to come into your home and have immediate access to that information.
>>BRODER: You also to be careful about your trash.
Now, a lot of people routinely receive things in the mail, maybe bank statements,
credit card statements or health insurance forms, and if they don't need
them, they just throw them away in the trash.
They shouldn't do that. Everyone should invest in a shredder,
so before they dispose of these critical documents, you shred them. Identity thieves
don't worry about getting their hands dirty, they will go through your trash to
retrieve these documents. They go where the information is.
They'll steal your mail
, they will steal your trash, they will steal
your wallet and that's how they get
information about you.
>>ROBINSON: My name is Nicole M. Robinson. The woman who stole my identity, her name
is Nicole A Robinson. She stole my
information from the pharmaceutical company that she works for. After this
happened, it devastated my financial life. I ordered my credit reports and
I received a credit report in the mail that was fifty four pages long
, it had over a hundred and seventy accounts, a hundred
and forty of them were in collection. It had forty-two different names and sixty-five
different
addresses on it
. Not only was somebody else
reaping the benefits of my good credit, I could no longer have access to my own good
credit. And I cried. I cried everyday for three months.
>>BRODER: On top of the financial and the time that
people spend in resolving these issues,
it's an emotional burden on victim. >>ROBINSON: My life before the identity theft
case was wonderful. In less than a month
, this woman destroyed what I had worked for
for fifteen years. She got my life
. >>MAJORAS: If an identity thief uses, for
example, your social security number
and applies for new credit in your name
as opposed to raiding an existing account,
there may be no way
for you to know about it.
uh... unless you've checked your credit report and you see that a new account, that you
didn't even know about
has been opened in your name. That's why it's very important
to monitor your credit report regularly. >>BRODER: When someone realizes that they're
a victim of identity theft it's like getting
a kick in the gut.
You know, you feel paralyzed for a moment. Bur it's really essential for victims to
move quickly and deliberately in starting to resolve
the problems that arise from identity theft. >>I did was everyone knows to do, and that's
to call your credit card companies
and cancel your credit cards
. However, that's not enough
There was one major bit of information that I did not have
and that was to call the three major credit bureaus.
And i did not do that
and what happened was this person then went back, she
was able to reopen
the credit cards that I cancelled
she was also able to
um... open new credit cards in my name.
>>BRODER: If you find you've become a victim of
identity theft, the first thing you need to do is
contact one of the three major credit
reporting agencies
and have them put a fraud alert on your file. >>You got to take it seriously. If you even
suspect it, you've got to put fraud alerts on.
You have to protect yourself and you've gotta inform yourself about
what to do so that when it does happen to you, you can do it quickly, because
time is critical
. >>BRODER: You next want to contact each of
the creditors or other institutions where
your information has been misused, then you follow up in
writing
and dispute these account and get a letter from them resolving these disputed
fraudulent accounts. >>The FTC has an
affidavit which in my case I used
to write out your explanation of what happened that you can then submit to
creditors trying to collect on fraudulent accounts. When you're trying to tell them
, "Look my identity was stolen," it helps prove
it to them
>>BRODER: You next want to contact your local police
department, report the crime and get a copy of the
police report. >>You should contact the
police immediately because otherwise you have no proof that
there was a crime. >>It's very important that you
report it to the police
because they're certain agencies that you need, or we recommend that you contact,
and they're probably going to refer you back to the Police Department, to see if
you have a Police report or not. >>BRODER: And finally, you need to
contact the federal trade commission , online
at the FTC.gov/idtheft or call us toll-free at 877-ID-THEFT to report
this to us. >>MAJORAS: Let's treat our personal information
as we would our cash.
Let's safeguard it whether we're at home, whether it's in our
purse or our wallet, or at our office. >>Your personal information is
cash
and in the wrong hands
it can destroy your life. >>BRODER: The FTC plays a central role in
helping victims avoid and recover from identity theft
. So we have developed substantial
consumer education materials available
on our website FTC.gov/idtheft >>Identity theft is serious, but even if your
identity has been stolen and there has been
, you know, fraudulent accounts opened in your
name, you can defend yourself and get those
resolved in your favor. >>There are
times when you just do not want to
finish and you just want to say, "Forget it, I can't do this anymore."
um... but you have to find that way inside of you to just keep going because
this is something that, if you don't clear, it definitely affects the rest of your
life.
>>MAJORAS: What I want
is for us to create a culture of security for our personal information,
so that in the future, this crime will be diminished greatly
.