Everett area a hotbed for identity theft

Herald staff and Associated Press

Identity theft was the leading consumer fraud complaint reported last year, both nationally and in Washington state, far exceeding gripes about Internet auctions and services.

Everett tied Spokane for fourth among cities with identity theft complaints, according to Chuck Harwood, regional director of the Federal Trade Commission.

Of 204,000 complaints compiled by the FTC, 42 percent involved identity theft. The figures come from a government database that collects complaints from more than 50 law enforcement and consumer groups.

But that only tells part of the story, Harwood said, adding that the FTC is only one of a number of agencies where consumer complaints are lodged.

Other top consumer fraud complaints were problems with Internet auctions (10 percent) involving goods that were delivered late or not at all and items less valuable than advertised; deceptive trial offers and charges from Internet and computer services (7 percent); and shop-at-home and catalog offers that failed to deliver or honor guarantees (6 percent).

The hijacking of someone’s identity using credit card or Social Security numbers to steal money or commit fraud is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States. Privacy advocates have said the number of people victimized by identity theft may be as high as 750,000 a year.

One Snohomish County resident has been battling for two years to clear his name after his identity was stolen. He asked not to be identified because he just learned that a new identity thief has been caught with his information in Bellingham.

"Our information is still floating out there. It’s a network kind of thing. Once it gets into the wrong hands, they start selling it and giving it away until it gets worn out. I thought it was almost over. It’s nothing to be taken for granted," he said.

He and his wife continue to struggle to clear their credit record.

"You kind of get depressed," he said.

The high number of identity theft complaints last year may partly reflect the FTC’s emphasis on investigating this type of fraud and its use of a toll-free number for those complaints, said Howard Beales, the agency’s director of consumer protection.

"We’ve set this national database funneling numbers to us," Harwood said. "Part of it is we’ve gotten better about collecting information from victims. The crime is getting more attention."

Of 5,136 consumer complaints filed last year in Washington, 2,062 were identity theft cases, Harwood said. Everett and Spokane residents filed 62 complaints, exceeded only by Seattle with 328, Tacoma with 111, and Vancouver with 86, Harwood said.

"The fact that it’s nearly half of all the complaints is significant," he said.

Identity theft represents 41 percent of Washington residents’ consumer complaints for 2001, mushrooming from 23 percent in 2000, Harwood said.

Credit card fraud was followed by scams in which telephone or utility accounts were created in a person’s name without his or her knowledge.

The District of Columbia had the highest rate of identity theft in 2001, with 77 victims for every 100,000 people. California and Nevada followed, with 45 and 41 victims per 100,000 people, respectively. Washington ranked ninth, with 35 per 100,000.

Last week, a Seattle man was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for stealing identity information from the garbage cans and mailboxes of almost 400 victims.

A day later, police in Washington state said they cracked an identity theft ring, seizing a huge amount of stolen mail, paperwork bearing Social Security numbers, forged receipts, equipment for making fake driver’s licenses, and maps of mail routes.

In more advanced cases, hackers have been able to penetrate big corporations’ databases and download credit card numbers and other data.

Most victims of identity theft eventually recoup their money, but they may suffer damage to their credit records and invasion of privacy.

The FTC’s identity theft hotline gets about 1,700 calls each week. The FTC identity theft site is at www.consumer.gov/idtheft/.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that victims of identity theft or other credit fraud cannot stretch a two-year deadline to sue companies that collect or spread bad information, even if the victims don’t learn of the problem until it is too late.