AARP NM Seeks Special Tool to Fight Identity Theft
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2006-11-30 16:37:27.241875-05:00
Wanda Morrison, a Santa Fe resident, would use a security freeze to protect her finances in a heartbeat if the state had legislation allowing one. A security freeze prevents someone from opening new accounts in your name without your authorization.
Morrison has been the victim of identity theft more than once. On one occasion, a computer at the company she worked for, containing personal employee information, was stolen. The other times were related to credit cards she used while on vacation that were duplicated without her knowledge and used for fraudulent purchases.
"It happened twice," Morrison said. "I used the card to buy a water fountain at a county fair. The vendor took the card to the back and then brought it back to me. I think that's where a duplicate card was made."
That time someone charged a fabulous vacation at Sea World in San Diego, including gifts and souvenirs, to her account. The second time, $10,000 worth of computers, among other items, were charged to her card.
As a result, Morrison is all too aware how easy it is for thieves to obtain access to your accounts and your personal information and is all for anything that provides her more protection and control of her finances.
"I'd definitely use a security freeze," she said. "There's so much going on out there, it's scary. I'd suggest people use it because it's just too easy to obtain your information and steal your identity."
Instead of waiting to become a victim, more consumers are actively seeking ways to protect their personal and financial information before an identity theft.
Implementing a law allowing a security freeze, which would allow consumers more protection, is one tool that the state Legislature is expected to consider in January. Using a freeze would be voluntary and people would be able to implement it before becoming an identity theft victim.
A security freeze does not impact existing accounts or credit cards and can be lifted within a short time by using an assigned pin number should someone need to finance a car or other purchase.
AARP New Mexico believes that a security freeze would be a win, win solution for both consumers and businesses. While a stolen identity may cost a consumer thousands of dollars to fix, the businesses that are left with fraudulent purchases often pay much more.
"I recently heard of an instance where a stolen identity was used to purchase a car from a New Mexico dealership," Getz said. "The national corporation refused to forgive the contract and that dealer was out $16,000. A security freeze would help prevent those kinds of purchases from occurring in the first place."
"When we travel around the state and talk about a security freeze, people are very interested in how it would work," Getz said. "They feel very vulnerable. If your identity is stolen, your personal information can be used over and over again for years."
"We have visited 12 different New Mexico communities in partnership with the New Mexico Securities Division to talk about identity theft and the security freeze and in each session there have been two to three people who have been victims of identity theft and have shared their stories," Getz said.
Getz said AARP is grateful for the work the Legislature did in 2005 making identity theft a fourth degree felony.
AARP will be working hard with legislators to ensure that any proposed bills would allow a security freeze to be a low cost, easy to use, and be available to all consumers not just people who are already victims of identity theft, she said.
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