Wachovia visa gift card

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Caren Bulmer's Visa bank card made a road trip last year to Manhattan, without ever leaving West Palm Beach or her wallet.

In February of last year, someone used Bulmer's credit card to buy two $1,500 gift certificates at a Staples store, by having the cashier key in the numbers rather than swiping the card. Then they cashed them to buy computer laptops and printers. Fortunately, when she saw them on her bank statement, she was able to call Wachovia Bank and have the charges removed.

But the stress of the ordeal didn't end there. To this day, she has no idea how thieves could have gotten her card number. The bank referred the case to its fraud department. When Bulmer asked what would happen, a Wachovia customer-service person said she didn't know whether anything further would be done.

"I said, 'Is this it, aren't you going to find out who did this?' " Bulmer recalled recently.

To be sure, such concerns about ID theft have heightened over the past month after computer security at U.S. information brokers ChoicePoint Inc. and Seisint Inc. was breached and the identities and other personal data of 175,000 Americans were stolen.

At least three bills in Congress would place stiffer regulations on data brokers and limit access to consumers personal records.

But while Congress lays out laws to protect Americans personal information held by data brokers, only a fraction of identity thefts are pilfered from them.

In fact, most ID theft results from decidedly low-tech schemes that range from a waiter swiping your credit card through a pocket- sized imprinter to sell the number on the black market to low-lifes who Dumpster dive, or fish for credit card receipts in a garbage container.

"There are people out there stealing people's identities and hundreds of thousands of dollars. My case is little compared to that," Bulmer said. Little, and unusual because most cases take months or years to resolve, and rarely is someone ever prosecuted.

A sobering fact given that an estimated 9 to 10 million Americans a year are victims of identity theft, and the number of complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission has risen each year since 2000, sometimes doubling. The effect is a $53 billion-a-year bite out of the economy.

The ordeal can be at once frustrating, and eye-opening to victims. The FTC says it can take anywhere from one hour to 240 hours to resolve credit problems resulting from ID theft. Sadly, you may be violated again months after you think the case is closed.

But it's not computers hackers who are swiping people's identities by the terabyte.

A study by Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin Strategy & Research released in January showed 68 percent of ID theft occurred off- line, with 29 percent occurring after someone loses their wallet, checkbook or credit card. Online methods accounted for less than 12 percent of the cases, while computer hackers were responsible for only 2.2 percent.

"Of the people who know (the thief), they say it was a family member, a neighbor or an in-house employee," Javelin chief strategist James Van Dyke said. "It's often a crime of opportunity."

The old-fashioned theft of a purse was the culprit in Malka Kornblatt's case.

Last June, the 72-year-old former college dean put her purse in the trunk of her 1964 Pontiac Le Mans convertible but left the top down. In the 15 minutes she was away from the car, someone had ripped the rear seat out and made off with her purse.

"It never crossed my mind that my trunk wasn't safe," she said. "I was hysterical."

Gone were at least nine debit or credit cards from banks, retail outlets, department stores and oil companies. Her driver's license and Medicare card also were stuffed in her purse.

"The (Medicare) card has your Social Security number on it and they tell you not to carry your Social Security number," Kornblatt said. "Why they do this, I don't know."

She called Wachovia Bank 30 minutes later, but the thieves already had bought a $1,700 computer with one of her credit cards.

At one point, there were up to $15,000 in withdrawals and charges on her accounts. Though the charges were canceled and the money restored to her, Kornblatt has become extra careful after the harrowing experience: She's taken the number off of her house and she's had her vintage Pontiac modified so the trunk is no longer vulnerable.

"I was paranoid, totally paranoid," Kornblatt said.

There's no clear rule on who to contact first once you're a victim of identity theft. In whatever order, call the bank, the police and the nation's three credit bureaus -- Equifax, TransUnion or Experion. Any credit bureau will notify the other two.

By placing a call to a credit bureau, a fraud alert can lock down your credit reports. No new credit card accounts or other debt will be granted in your name for 90 days, a period that can be extended to seven years by request. A bank can block your new charges and issue you a new account number.

"You have to get whatever documentation you can that these charges weren't your debt. If you file a police report, you can take it to creditors," FTC Assistant Director Betsy Broder said.

There are differing degrees of harm from ID theft, with the least coming from a credit card. A call to the bank and to one of the credit bureaus should stop fraudulent spending in your name. Your bank will refund the loss once you prove your card or account number was ripped off.

Social Security numbers and driver's licenses are dicier.

If someone has your name, address, date of birth and Social Security number, they are capable of doing you severe damage. They can create new bank accounts. They can pay for hospital visits with your medical insurance. They can file for bankruptcy or, worse, they can commit a crime, making you responsible.

"Suddenly, there's a warrant out for your arrest," Broder said.

What's more, ID theft can quickly tarnish a credit report. A compromised credit record, in turn, can nix a mortgage or home refinancing, a lease application or car loan, life insurance policy or new job. It can mean paying a deposit on utilities or losing a college loan.

Consumers may request a credit report for free, if they say they are fraud victims.

"A credit report is part of a background check for a job or most anything. Your identity and your credit report are your most important assets," Equifax Senior Vice President Robin Holland said.

Once the credit bureau and bank are alerted to stop the financial hemorrhaging, the next call by a victim should be to the police. Authorities normally write a report and investigate, depending on the strength of the case and amount of loss. But some police departments won't even take an ID theft report.

"That's what's so frustrating. Each police agency is different. Some will take a report. Others will say you have to go to the jurisdiction where the (credit) card was compromised or where the fraud took place," said Det. Jeff Simons, a member of Boca Raton's economic crimes unit.

That's the response Ann Miller, a doctor's office manager, got in June 2001.

She had applied on the Internet for a loan to buy a sunset- orange Trans Am. A week later, she got calls from Citgo and Amoco, checking personal data for gas cards she never applied for.

Another person had used her personal information to apply for the gas cards, and for accounts at retail and discount stores and an American Express card. Then, Miller learned that the fake Ann Miller lived in Miami and her last employer was Jackson Memorial Hospital.

She filed a report with the Palm Bay Police, but when she called authorities in Miami-Dade County with the address of the thief, the police said they couldn't help her. The original report was filed out of their jurisdiction and there was more than enough violent crimes to keep officers busy before dipping into ID theft.

Miller also called the FBI.

"They told me that even if they had more information, they couldn't release it for privacy reasons. I thought that was inappropriate. I'm the victim. My privacy was violated," she said.

Adding to the frustration with authorities, it can be costly for victims to do damage control.

Jay Foley, co-founder of the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center, put the average out-of-pocket expense to clean up the damage done by ID theft at $1,400. Victims must pay to photocopy personal papers, fax documents, mail objection letters to credit bureaus, make phone calls and pay notaries.

"I'm talking about 12 accounts in your name that have gone to collection agencies. That's 24 letters to contest it. . . . Then there's three more to the credit bureaus," Foley said. "And those have to be certified if you want people to pay attention to them."