Nov 28, 2006 11:56 am US/Mountain
Some ID Thieves Sell Victims' Private Info Online
Colorado Ranks No. 5 In The Nation For Identity Theft
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Collin Reese specializes in identity theft prevention.
CBS
Colorado ranks fifth in the nation for
identity theft. It is so prevalent that the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation is creating a new unit to address identity theft crimes.
One tactic that thieves have adopted is trading and selling people's stolen personal information in secret online chat rooms.
CBS4 found several victims in Colorado who had no idea that their identity was up for sale on the Internet.
Charles Martin first discovered that he was a victim of identity theft when he got a call from Canada.
"It was somebody trying to buy a digital camera with my credit card number," Martin said.
Before he knew it, he had a total of about $2,500 in charges, from locations as varied as Florida, Israel and Andorra.
Martin thought it might be the work of a single thief, until CBS4 showed him a piece of paper with his credit card number, security code, address and phone number on it -- information obtained online with help from a lawful company called CardCops.
"You weren't aware they were actually selling your information on the Internet?" CBS4's Katherine Blake asked.
"No, not until you contacted me was I aware how bad it was," he said.
Dan Clements, CardCops' CEO, said he sees this type of criminal activity happening all the time online. CardCops' mission is to infiltrate the "underground cyberworld" where people's personal information is being sold and then to notify banks and consumers.
"If you have access to the online bank account, they will sell it anywhere from two percent to 10 percent of the money that's in your debit account," Clements said.
Laura Reidel is one of the most vulnerable victims CBS4 found. Not only do the thieves have her address and phone number, they also have her
Social Security number, driver's license number, mother's maiden name, credit card number with pin, bank account number and bank routing number.
When CBS4 informed her of this fact, she said she felt "very violated."
"I feel like everybody is looking at me in my house in the privacy of my house," she said.
CBI agent Collin Reese, who specializes in computer crimes, says thieves can obtain private information simply by looking over someone's shoulder when they're using their pin, but it's usually much more sophisticated. He said that it's important to be very wary of pop ups and other obtrusive online trickery that warns of a need to update software or remove a virus from a computer.
The minute someone clicks such items hidden programs often starts recording a user's every keystroke.
"That piece of software then calls home (and) sends that information to the bad guy," Reese said. "Now your secret personal information is elsewhere."
It often ends up in seedy chat rooms "where the bad guys will sell access to your life savings."
The CBI's complex fraud unit is set to launch in January. As many as eight agents will concentrate specifically on identity theft crimes.
If your ID has been stolen, contact the credit bureaus and create a fraud alert. They will notify you if anyone tries to open an account in your name. Experts also suggest the following actions:
- Think twice before clicking on unsolicited e-mails or pop-ups.
- Make sure you don't get directed to phony Web sites.
- Check into insurance policies for identity theft.
- Install anti-spyware software on your computer.
Additional Resources
Boulder Consumer Affairs Division: Protect Yourself Vs. Identity Theft Visit Colorado Attorney General's
Identity Theft prevention and information page on their Web site.
FBI Internet Fraud Web site National
Identity Theft Resource Center
For more background, watch CBS4's story
Family May Change Name After Warnings About Identity Theft or read the 2005 story
Confessions Of An Identity Thief.
(© MMVI CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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