Posted on 06/13/2007 11:29:37 AM PDT by batter
This week, the Utah Attorney General's Office will send out 100 letters to Utahns whose social security numbers may have been compromised. They are the first in the country, to do this. Utah authorities call it a moral obligation.
Some 20,000 Utahns have been identified as victims. Most of them don't even know their identity has been stolen; so many people will be surprised to get one of these letters in their mailbox.
A series of Eyewitness News investigations exposed the fastest growing crime in Utah, and the pace has yet to slow down. Chief Deputy of the Utah Attorney General's Office, Kirk Torgensen, says identity theft is a huge problem. Authorities say thieves are targeting adults as well as children. Torgensen says, "The problem with children is nobody ever thinks of looking at their kids' credit report because there shouldn't be any credit report."
In 2004, Eyewitness News went undercover and exposed just how easy it is to buy a social security card. Authorities say most customers are illegal immigrants, who need one to work. "They're just spinning out a number and if it's your bad luck that your number got spun out and put on a card, then that's how your social security number gets compromised," Torgensen says.
And he says too often, the adult victims never find out. The younger ones do, but not until it's too late. He says, "They don't find out until the worst possible moment, when they want to go out and get a student loan for college."
Division of Workforce Services has identified perhaps 20,000 Utahns whose numbers have been compromised. The attorney general's office is sending out 100 letters this week, alerting people of the situation. They are only sending 100 letters so they aren't overwhelmed by calls from people who want help.
Assistant Attorney General Richard Hamp says most of those numbers are being used by illegal immigrants. "The biggest problem when someone else is using your number, then what they do goes on your credit rating, and the biggest issue is destroying your credit rating and then your ability to purchase."
The letters will also tell them to check their child's social security number. "We want just to gauge a response. If we get a lot of people calling in it looks like they're compromised then we take further steps," says Curt Stewart with the Department of Workforce Services.
Stewart says they found out through cross-checking databases that thousands of Utahns' numbers are being used by multiple people to collect wages. They are starting to notify Utahns on public assistance whose children have a social security number collecting at least $1,000 last quarter.
Torgensen says prevention is the best defense against this kind of crime. He says, "People are just going to be very resolved to look at their credit reports."
He says everyone should check our credit reports three times a year.
For more information on identity theft, click on the links to the right, or call 801-281-1267.
By week's end, the Division of Workforce Services plans to send out about 100 letters to Utahns whose children's Social Security numbers are believed to have been compromised by identity thieves -- in many cases, by immigrants working in the country illegally.
The initial letters are just the beginning; many more likely will go out as state computer cross-referencing reveals potentially illegal use of the Social Security numbers, Workforce Services spokesman Curt Stewart says.
In all, an estimated 20,000 of the numbers belonging to Utahns may have been compromised, he said.
"The letters to go out later this week are specifically to people on public assistance who have children under 14 [with Social Security numbers] collecting at least $1,000 in the last quarter," Stewart said.
The warnings are made possible by the passage of Senate Bill 15 during the last legislative session, he said. The new law allows Workforce Services, for the first time, to share its data on compromised Social Security accounts both with affected individuals and law enforcement.
"In the past we had found times when wages were reported [on stolen Social Security numbers] and we couldn't legally do anything about it," Stewart said. "But the newly modified Employment Security Act changed that, allowing us to disclose identity theft fraud."
Identity thieves can use the numbers for much more than collecting wages. The numbers also can be used to apply for credit cards, loans and other transactions that can leave the legitimate holder of the Social Security account with destroyed credit and bill collection headaches.
After the responses to this week's mailings are gauged, Workforce Services will determine a time schedule for further notifications, Stewart said.
"For right now, this is sort of testing the waters, a first foray into attacking the problem," he said.
The letters note that while problems have been found, they are not notices of an official law enforcement investigation. Whether such cases are prosecuted is up to the state Attorney General's Office, Stewart said.
The letters urge parents suspecting their child's Social Security number is being misused to report their concerns directly to the AG's office Web site (www.idtheft.utah.gov). The site provides a "DWS Notification" link and instructions on how to file a Social Security theft complaint.
Those without Internet access can call the AG's Office direct for assistance: 801-281-1267.
¡Sí, Se Puede!
Well, all those teachers they’re bringing in from Mexico to teach the offspring of the document fraud crowd will soon put a stop to this. Not.
Crimmigration will never stop until it is punished swiftly and severely. The reason that it has not been stopped is because politicians do not want it stopped.
They should be able to locate the imposters easily enough.
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=3751
:)
Talk about taking jobs Americans don’t want,pretending to be Utahns.
If the Mayor of Portland's ID was stolen and used I wonder how he would feel.
Crimigrants ping.
why don’t these people just use their real name?
Stop SS fraud today!
Utah literally asks for illegals, their driver’s licenses are not up to US fraud standards. There are a lot of rich businessmen in that state making money off of illegals.
Oh, c’mon! Just because they broke the law and stole peoples’ identities doesn’t mean they’re bad people!!
/sarc off
All is forgiven.
-GW
Utah recently updated the driver license statutes to bring them into line with Fed standards. Illegals can not longer get driver’s licenses (they get a driving permit card - not perfect, but a step forward).
Good, when I left there in July 2005, they had not fixed it yet.
Ah, Portland. Home to the Portland Six. Those guys weren’t illegals, but you’d think the city would’ve become more security conscious in the wake of those arrests...Guess not.
Someone’s been paying into my social security account since 1999. I won’t report them, though, as I need the retirement funds. Sure would like to send a thank-you card, tho.
Authorities say most customers criminals are illegal immigrants, who need one to work. or collect free benefits.
Fixed it. They became criminals by association, when they bought the SS number.
It costs about $250 in NE OK...to get a fake SS card.
ping
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