From the AEGIS e-Journal, Volume 2 Number 11, November 1999
Last year, for most, the problem of identity theft wasn’t even on the radar screen, and now it is all over the place. All someone needs to have is your name, SSN, DOB and some basic additional information such as where you live, or what you drive, etc…. With this information, identity thieves can acquire IDs such as a voter registration card, Social Security card, and other similar non-photo ID Cards. From these documents they begin the process of obtaining government photo IDs such as drivers licenses. Why do people do this: Why do they steal someone else’s ID? It is done because they have screwed up their own lives — or because they are going to screw up the life of the person whose ID they stole. One man in Texas assumed another man’s ID 35 years ago when he was given a dishonorable discharge from the military. The man whose ID was stolen lived in Maryland, and had tried for almost all of the 35 years to make authorities aware that something was wrong. It wasn’t until new federal law was passed against ID theft, and over $400,000 in credit fraud was logged against him, that something was done. The identity thief in Texas is finally in jail awaiting trial. How do you prevent your ID from bring stolen? Shred all documents containing any personal information before they go into your trash. Don’t throw out any documents, such as checks or anything else, away from home: Them it home and shred shred. Don’t use your Social Security number on your drivers license, and don’t routinely give out your Social Security number or date of birth. Keep only the minimum of documents in the glove box of your car. Also, check your credit report at least once a year and look for unauthorized inquiries and unknown credit relationships. If these occur, immediately contact the credit granting body and the credit reporting agency. How do you know if the person you are hiring is the person they claim to be? Without doing routine background checks this can be a problem. This was a problem for a series of banks that hired loan officers. It seems a group of criminals applied all over a city as loan officers. Where they were hired they immediately began issuing loans to their criminal associates, and, surprise of surprises, all of the loans went bad. The banks that did not conduct background checks hired the criminals, and suffered losses: Millions are missing, and the banks have no one to blame but themselves. On the bright side, those banks that did background checks found discrepancies, and did not hire the criminals. Simple cross references ÆGIS, November 1999 3 between names, Social Security numbers, addresses, ages and, drivers licenses photos caught the fakes.