Identity Theft and Fraud: Catching Them is Usually Not This Easy

"Out of how many customer-service desks, out of how many registers she could have gone to, and she had to come to me?" It almost sounds like a take off of the Humphrey Bogart line from the movie Casablanca. It isn't. For Michelle McCambridge, the situation was all too real. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that last year 8.4 million people were the victims of identity theft. The good news is that is a decline from previous years where the numbers hovered close to the 10 million mark. Those statistics are of little comfort to people who wind up bearing the financial burden. McCambridge reports that the thieves used her social security number to rack up thousands of dollars in charges. But through an amazing coincidence McCambridge was able to turn the tables. According to The Seattle Times, McCambridge who works at J.C. Penny was standing behind the counter when a customer approached requesting to open a department store account. When the person presented McCambridge with the necessary information needless to say she was shocked. The "customer" gave Cambridge's name as well as phony identification. "I was a little panicked. I was a little shaky," said the 23 year old college student. But she managed to pull herself together slip away from the counter and alert store security. By doing so, McCambridge started a whole of chain of events that led not only to the arrest of the suspect but the dismantling of an identity theft ring. rnThe circumstances are to say the least extraordinary. As Joseph Velling, a special agent for the Social Security Administration explains "Identity-theft crimes are some of the most difficult criminal cases to investigate. It is not that law enforcement does not know what crime was committed. Rather, it is a simpler question - who did it?" This may explain why the majority of identity theft cases remain unsolved. If that was not bad enough, factor in that an overwhelming number of identity crimes never get reported. Is it any wonder that for nearly a decade identity theft has topped the list as the number one consumer complaint? No it will probably never be this easy. If you are the victim of identity theft the chances that the thief will show up at your place of business and present their (your) information is not very likely. But even if you are not that fortunate, what happened to Michelle McCambridge should serve as an example about the importance of fighting back. Joseph Velling says it best. "I'm very proud of her. It was heroic."