Identity Theft

Identity Theft >> Fight to Clean Up Your Identity

Stories of Identity Theft Victims

The Military ID Was Too Easy To Get: System Failures Aided the Thief

I have been an identity theft victim for 1 year and I've yet to find an agency or organization that has brought any relief or words of comfort that can make this nightmare seem like it will have an end.

I retired from the US Army in 1999 after 20 years. July of 2001, Jerry Wayne Phillips, was able to get a military ID from FT. Bragg, NC with my name and SSN. With that ID and my good credit history, he was able to buy cars, motorcycles, open credit card accounts, checking accounts, and get credit at virtually every department store that offers credit. I never came in contact with him, I didn't lose a credit card, and I wasn't careless with my social security number. The accounts he opened had no relationship to any of my accounts.

The military simply didn't do a good job protecting my personal information and military records. Incidentally, the military attempted to garnish my retirement pay as a result of an account he opened at an Army Exchange Service. To the best of my knowledge, I've taken every step available to me to straighten this mess out. I've worked with law enforcement agencies at all levels, all 3 credit bureaus, creditors, banks, lawyers, collection agencies and the list goes on.

Phillips started in July 2001 and was in jail by December 11th, but it seems it will take me years to clean up what took him just 6 months to create. I've been working on this since the end of October 2001.

I've always paid my bills and continue to do so, but I wouldn't be able to borrow a single dollar if my life depended on it because my credit is such a wreck. Two weeks ago, I tried to open a checking account for my 15 year-old daughter who recently started working. I found out there are places, besides the 3 credit bureaus that have negative information on my SSN, which are preventing me from opening a bank account.

TransUnion has been the most helpful, but the process is very slow and I've had accounts deleted that re-appear. Equifax has been awful and hasn't done any thing to help me. I can't even get a new report from them. Creditors issued credit because of my high credit rating even though the thief couldn't spell my first name correctly on the applications. He used over 20 different addresses in 6 different states, none of which were in my home state and none of which were real addresses.

I have no idea what can be done, but I do know that I'm just about worn out. The phone calls, the affidavits, the letters and emails, the hours and hours and hours. Something is not right with all this. The system is really lousy. It's not set up to prevent these things from happening and it's certainly not set up to correct them when it does. I really feel like I'm paying the price for the mistake of others, and there's nothing that can be done.

The thief will do jail time and that's fine. The U.S. Secret Service says it won't go to trial because the damage is only about $200,000, but he will do time as he should. But to be perfectly honest...I'm wondering who's getting the stiffer punishment, him or me.

Update December 2002:

My imposter, Jerry Wayne Phillips, was sentenced to 41 months on October 22, 2002. He was prosecuted by the US Attorney in Texas, Eastern District. I'm still struggling with the cleanup and in all I've been dealing with over 65 accounts created by Phillips. I've also been sued by one account and have a judgment against me for $4,200. The situation is insane and even a little hopeless. The biggest problem has been the banking accounts. Phillips opened at least 5 different checking accounts and wrote checks from all of them. I have no idea how many checks total. I can only deal with them as they come after me one by one. While dealing with the 3 major credit bureaus can be difficult and time consuming; dealing with the many check verification and reporting agencies is even more frustrating and difficult and probably will go on for years. On the brighter side, I have found an attorney that is experienced and understands how devastating ID theft is. He's been extremely helpful if for no other reason than he seems to understand the personal side of this crime and gets as angry as I do about what victims face.

After going through this ordeal for over a year, I have a need to become an advocate for all victims, especially the future ones. I have a need to fight back and effect any changes I can to a system that is completely inadequate and insensitive. I think victims of ID Theft hit a point where they realize they can't really help themselves. Nothing that can happen now will change what I've already been put through. All I really have to look forward to is making my situation count for something.

Source: http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/victim22.htm

Joe's Story: "The burden is entirely on the victim to prove fraud over and over again"

My name is Joe Zicaro and I have been a victim of identity theft.

I first became aware that someone was using my identity very early in the chain of events on July 16, 1999, thanks to a perceptive account representative named at Sears Credit Central in Louisville KY. The rep contacted me for verification of an unusual request after someone impersonating me on the telephone attempted to take control of my Sears charge account. The caller claimed a fire had destroyed my house and all my records, and requested a replacement charge card be sent to a Los Angeles address. I had placed password protection on all accounts I held back in 1993 to prevent my ex-wife from tampering with them. When Mr. Hill asked the caller for the password on the account, the caller hung up. Suspecting something was wrong, Mr. Hill contacted me at my home for verification and explained what took place. This was one of the very first few incidents of fraudulent activity. From my research, I have determined that all fraudulent activity using my identity started in mid July, so I felt fortunate that I caught it very early. This eventually proved to be of little help.

I immediately contacted the three credit reporting bureaus: Equifax; Trans-Union, and Experian/TRW, and added a fraud victim security alert to my credit files that same day. I was place on hold in their automated phone systems for long periods while waiting for a customer service representative to answer. I was on hold with one credit bureau for more that 40 minutes before my call was answered. When I finally got through to a human, I explained the situation and asked about inquiries into my credit files. After I verified my identifying information and information regarding true accounts that I held, I learned from a representative at Equifax that inquiries had been made by Sprint PCS and Pacific Bell and that a sprint PCS cellular phone account had been opened in my name. These were the first two fraudulent inquiries and the first fraudulent account reported in their records. Trans Union refused to offer any information, stating that they would be sending me a copy of my credit report and insisting that I would just have to wait. Both Trans-Union and Equifax allowed me to add my correct phone numbers to the security alert so that I could be contacted by creditors for verification of any credit applications they might receive. I could not get through to any person at Experian so was left with their totally inadequate automated system, which failed to add the security warning to my files at that time. I finally had the warning added at Experian after sending them a written request by fax, but the warning was not added until more than a month later. By this time several accounts were opened in my name. The security warnings in my credit files at Equifax and Trans-Union did help somewhat, as I was contacted by several creditors who had received fraudulent applications, and I was able to prevent any accounts from being opened by those institutions. Unfortunately, not all creditors paid heed to the security alert.

I tried to file a police report with Sacramento County Sheriff's Dept. but the duty officer refused to take my report until I could produce evidence from a creditor that a fraudulent account was opened in my name. I learned that police agencies are reluctant to take reports of identity theft without verification from a creditor that a fraud account had been opened, and that credit grantors won't act on any allegations of fraud without a police report. The two policies mutually prohibit any action from being taken to investigate these crimes.

I finally convinced a fraud investigator at Sprint PCS to accept an affidavit of fraud with other identifying information to start a fraud investigation. They confirmed fraud, closed the account and sent me a statement, which I took to the Sheriffs and finally filed a police report, 2 weeks later. After filing the report, Sacramento police insisted this case was not in their jurisdiction because the crimes were being committed in los Angeles. The case was forwarded to Los Angeles authorities, who then claimed it was not in their jurisdiction because the victim lived in Sacramento Co., so I was stuck. I contacted the FBI and got a polite letter in reply saying that my problem was just not worth their time.

Quoting from the letter, it stated "...our investigative guidelines... do not allow us to investigate allegations of criminal activity where the loss is less than $50K."

Finally, my case got the attention of a Sergeant at LAPD fraud and forgery department, but he insisted he couldn't start an investigation without a criminal complaint from a creditor who had been defrauded. All creditors who had opened fraudulent accounts in my name refused to make a criminal complaint, even after being contacted by Sergeant Elliot. My case has been frustrated by lack of response, inadequate response, and even refusal to respond as necessary to support any criminal investigation. These thieves apparently know this and go merrily spending thousands and thousands of dollars in the names of their victims with no fear of being apprehended.

I learned back in August, '99 that my impersonator had purchased three cell phones by check. I knew then that this meant the thief had also opened a checking account in my name, but the company that sold the phones refused to provide me with any information on that check. I could do nothing but wait until something showed up in my credit files to identify the bank account the check was drawn on. Only just recently, 8 months later, I discovered the bank where that account was opened and learned that the imposter had written 200 checks on that account. Those checks are now showing up in my credit files as collection accounts. After becoming quite a pest to the investigators at the bank, they provided me with a partial list of the checks with the check serial numbers and amounts. Adding up the amounts of the bad checks with the charges on other fraud accounts in my name, the total amount is more than $44,000.

I have been successful at cleaning most of the fraudulent accounts from my credit files, but some still remain, as well as the inquiries into my credit history. In spite of having already proved fraud at all three major credit reporting agencies, I am still having difficulties with them updating my personal information, name, address, phone number etc. with the fraud information given by the thief each time a credit inquiry or collection account is reported.

In spite of identifying the problem during the first few days of criminal activity, numerous fraudulent accounts have been opened in my name. I have spent hundreds of hours dealing with this problem and almost a year later, I am still spending many hours each week trying to resolve the problems with the credit bureaus, banks, and collection agencies.

The burden is entirely on the victim to prove fraud over and over again and the only real actions they can take are limited to damage control after the fact. I've been keeping meticulous records and compiling a folder with letters, affidavits, credit reports and other correspondence required to resolve these problems. The folder is now three inches thick and growing larger each week.

This ordeal has been my worst nightmares come true and, since the problem was identified so early, most of it could have been prevented with the proper means and a little cooperation from the credit bureaus, credit grantors and law enforcement.

Source: http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/victim7.htm