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IDENTITY THEFT: Outsmarting the Crooks
TRANSCRIPT (Edited for clarity)
NARRATOR: Welcome to “Identity Theft: Outsmarting the Crooks.” This video presentationis brought to you by the United States Department of the Treasury. Here now is John Snow,Secretary of the Treasury.SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, JOHN SNOW: Hello. I’m John Snow, and I’mdelighted to join you today to talk about a serious problem that’s affecting America, and that’sthe problem of identity theft. Identity theft harms individuals and their families. It threatens toundermine confidence in our highly efficient credit system and, as a result, it imposes large andunnecessary costs on our economy.Identity theft involves stealing your personal information – information like yourfinancial account numbers, for instance – and then using that information to run up bills oraccumulate assets fraudulently in your name.Fortunately, there are things you can do. There are things we
all
can do to protectourselves. This video helps to define that problem and to lay out steps you can take to protectyourself, or to repair the damage if you become a victim of identity theft. You’ll also get aglimpse of how law enforcement is fighting back on your behalf.I urge you to take the lessons of the video to heart and apply them in your own life.Thank you very much for watching.VICTIM’S STORY: I was surprised that I was a victim of identity theft. I was a recent collegegraduate who was just starting out. I’d landed a job, managed my money and paid my bills ontime. I had a credit card, but I didn’t go overboard with it.I should’ve been tipped off when I got a letter from some credit card company that I’dbeen turned down for a new card. It was odd, because I hadn’t applied for the card, but I justshrugged it off as a computer glitch. A few weeks later, I got a welcome letter from
another 
credit card company thanking me for opening a new account, but no card. I realized then thatsomething was wrong.I called the credit card company and was told the new card had been issued with a co-applicant, my neighbor. Not only that, but someone had spent over $300 shopping in anotherstate. The company told me to file a police report, since they needed more verification before
 
 
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they would close the account and delete the charge.My neighbor was cooperative and said he would be glad to speak to the police. I calledthe local police, who took down my information, but they said the situation was difficult becausethe crime crossed state lines. I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to contact federal lawenforcement.The investigation showed that the crooks would show up at my apartment buildingaround three in the afternoon before most people would get home from work, and they wouldsteal pieces of mail – bills, credit card applications and bank statements. My building has about30 units. The mailboxes were outside, underneath a dark archway and organized into suites, soif you opened up one of the suites you had access to at least six mailboxes. After theinvestigation, we moved the mailboxes and secured them better.MODERATOR: This is more than a cautionary story. It happens far too often. Somehow,someone manages to steal our identity, who we are, and opens up bank accounts, credit cards andloan accounts in our name, and then the imposter starts running up the tab. This crime is atremendous waste of money and an enormous waste of time. Last year, victims spent over 250million hours trying to sort out bogus accounts and set their credit record straight.The United States Treasury asked two panels of experts to help us become more aware of the problem of identity theft, help us protect ourselves from the crime, and offer some tips aboutresolving the problem if we happen to become a victim.You can watch the DVD straight through, or you can use the menu to watch any segmentof the DVD in any order. Most importantly, we’ve included a Resource Library, a collection of materials – all sorts of reference information. Just pop this DVD into your computer todownload whatever information you need. There’s a list of web sites, too, so you can go onlinefor even more information.Well, let’s get started.
 
Our panel for the first segment includes Scott Parsons, DeputyAssistant Secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection, from the Treasury Department; SpecialAgent-in-Charge Larry Johnson, Criminal Investigative Division, United States Secret Service;Anthony Demangone, Regulatory Compliance Counsel, National Association of Federal CreditUnions; and Alex Sanchez, CEO, Florida Bankers Association.Scott, let’s get right into it. What exactly is identity theft?DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY SCOTT PARSONS: Identity theft is a fraud committedor attempted using the identifying information of another person without that person’spermission or authority. Regulation under The FACT Act, the Fair and Accurate CreditTransactions Act of 2003, define identity theft in that way. And it’s important, because the
 
 
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definition is somewhat broad, but there’re really two types of identity theft that we’re talkingabout today. One is the actual hijacking of a person’s identity to create new accounts, to go outand open new credit cards, to create a new banking account. That’s one aspect of it.The other aspect is actually credit card fraud, gaining your credit card number, or maybesome information that allows a person to complete a transaction using your credit card number.So, there are two different types of frauds, but they all have the same end result. Someone istrying to steal your information, and the thief is trying to steal money by using it.MODERATOR: Alex, how can consumers fight back on this?MR. ALEX SANCHEZ: You have to guard your I.D. like one of your biggest assets -- like youguard your home. You insure your home. You insure your car. Well, you have to make sure youtake care of your I.D., as well.MODERATOR: Anthony, how do we know if we’ve become a victim? What should we look for?MR. ANTHONY DEMANGONE: The most common indication would be an unauthorizedtransaction. An example of that, I think Scott mentioned earlier, is credit card fraud. You cansee a transaction on your statement that’s not yours. It doesn’t have to be a credit card. It couldbe your checking account. It could be a savings account. Again, looking at a statement, you’re just going to see a transaction that looks fishy or you don’t remember doing.Now, the other problem is, though, sometimes with identity theft the crooks are actuallygoing to open up new accounts. They’re going to take your information and create a newaccount that you have no knowledge of. In a best-case scenario, you may find out within 24hours. You may get a phone call. You may quickly learn that you’re a victim. A worst-casescenario can take weeks, months. Some victims don’t even find out until they get a call from acollection agency, wondering why the victim is not making payments.MODERATOR: One of the techniques, I understand, is that after they steal it, they don’t
act 
onit, so you get kind of lulled into security, and then after a month or two, they come back and say– you know -
then
you get hit.MR. DEMANGONE: Exactly. Something seemed fishy and, well, a week’s gone by. Twoweeks have gone by. You let your guard down and, like you said, the problem’s just therewaiting for you.MODERATOR: Alex?MR. SANCHEZ: Well, you know, I was going to say that the banking industry, the financialservices industry, government and others are spending billions of dollars in technology to fight
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