Rep's Corner

Imagine spending an hour in your local grocery store buying the family's weekly groceries. When you finally reach the checkout and have your purchases rung up, you decide to pay with your credit card. However, the cashier scans the card and tells you that you have reached your limit. Knowing this cannot be true, you ask that the card be re-scanned and the same result occurs. After leaving the store in embarrassment, you return home and call your credit card company. Shockingly you find out that someone has stolen your credit card information and made unauthorized purchases until the credit limit was reached. You have just become a victim of identity theft.

Identity theft. It’s the latest worst nightmare. Identity theft occurs when a criminal obtains and uses a consumer’s personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, insurance information and social security numbers to purchase goods or services fraudulently. Criminals do this by opening new accounts in the victim’s good name, purchasing products and then leaving them with the bill.

Victims are usually unaware that someone has stolen their identity until they start bouncing checks uncharacteristically, receiving calls from creditors demanding payment on strange accounts and/or noticing unauthorized charges on their credit card statements. Fortunately, victims are not liable for much more than $50, but they do have to deal with any negative ramifications left on their credit report made by the criminal. Credit report problems can take years for a victim to clear-up, causing the victim difficulties if they want to buy a house, a car or when applying for a job. In the current information age, criminals can obtain personal information much easier than before. This is why consumers must pay more attention to protecting their personal information.

To address this growing problem, Ohio recently passed a law that makes it unlawful for someone to use another person’s identifying information with the intent to fraudulently obtain credit, property, or services. Senate Bill 7, of which I was a co-sponsor, also takes into account computer and Internet technology, and makes it a crime to aid or abet another person in securing personal identifying information. If the value of the credit, property, services, debt or other legal obligation is $500-$5,000, the penalty is a fifth degree felony; any obligation between $5,000-$100,000 makes the penalty a fourth degree felony and any obligation above $100,000 is a third degree felony. Identity theft is also a federal offense. The Federal Trade Commission has designed procedures for victims of identity theft to file complaints as well as notify the appropriate law enforcement agencies and credit bureaus.

While these laws seek to provide protection for the honest consumer, they are not blanket safeguards against identity theft. The following are some easy steps that you can take to protect yourself from identity theft:

· Order your credit report once a year from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies to check for inaccuracies and fraudulent use of your accounts (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax);

· Remove your name from marketing lists;

· Shred any credit card, bank, insurance, or bill statements before throwing them out. Criminals can use these papers to obtain private personal information for illegal means;

· Reduce the number of credit cards that you use. This makes it is easier to keep track of your financial status;

· Always keep your credit card, store and ATM receipts. Never throw them in public trash bins until you have shredded them;

· Shred pre-approved credit card applications before throwing them away;

· Be wary of anyone calling to “verify” personal financial information; and

· Only release your Social Security number when it is required, and never have it printed on your checks.

If you do notice that your wallet has been stolen or is missing, or if you notice unauthorized financial charges, immediately file a police report, cancel any credit cards and bank accounts (have them re-opened under different numbers) and file a report to the three national credit-reporting agencies in writing. You may also ask to be contacted before any new credit is opened in your name.

Technology has revolutionized the world as we know it. However, it has also created new paper and cyber trails of personal information that consumers must protect. Ohio is committed to punishing criminals who steal and tarnish an individual’s identity. Please take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from this detrimental crime.


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© Copyright 2008 State Representative Lynn Olman. All rights reserved.