Stamp Out Identity Theft
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2005-02-17 13:31:56
Business was booming for the identity thief working Jim Dexter’s Oakland, Calif., community. He stole a brand-new credit card out of Dexter’s mailbox and used it to buy, among other things, a computer.
"It turns out that the guy who stole my mail hit about 200 other people in my neighborhood," Dexter, 59, says. "With the computer he bought with my credit card, he made a spreadsheet to log Social Security numbers, bank accounts and other personal information he got from their mail."
Stealing mail to assume someone’s identity is big business anytime, anywhere in the United States. But tax season can be especially bountiful as W-2 forms and other sensitive information containing bank and Social Security numbers arrive in mailboxes.
"Thieves today are not the same as they were five years ago," says U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesman Paul Krenn. "They’ve become very sophisticated at mining pieces of information to assume the identities of others."
It’s this type of sensitive data that enables scammers to take full advantage of other mail they steal from you—namely, those unsolicited direct-mail applications for pre-approved credit cards, loans or refinancing opportunities, which have increased by 5 billion pieces since the national Do Not Call Registry went into effect in October 2003.
More than 3 million Americans a year learn that credit accounts have been falsely opened in their name—and 400,000 of these crimes can be traced to stolen mail. Sometimes, this happens when "dumpster divers" steal mail from outgoing trash. "But some identity thieves follow mail trucks to steal the delivered incoming mail," says Linda Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego-based advocacy group. "With your Social Security or bank account numbers from some pieces of stolen mail, they just complete these applications to get a credit card in your name."
If mail isn’t delivered through a slot on your front door, a locking mailbox is your best defense against theft—they are available for as little as $65 and are now common in Dexter’s neighborhood. He helped organize a civic group to buy them at discount for his neighbors.
In about 15 minutes, you can also stop receiving much of the most shred-worthy mailings:
- Call (888) 567-8688 to remove your name from lists sold to credit card companies by consumer reporting firms such as Equifax and Experian .
- Stop solicitations from the Direct Marketing Association’s 5,200 member companies, which represent 80 percent of these marketers. Get forms for $5 . Or write for free forms to the Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512.
- Remove yourself from mortgage refinancing and home equity loan offers by calling the Acxiom U.S. Consumer Hotline at (877) 774-2094 or writing to DataQuick, Attn: Opt-Out Dept., 9620 Towne Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92121.
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