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American Morning

The Big Question: Will You be Next Victim of Identity Theft?

Aired March 28, 2002 - 07:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The big question this hour: Will you be the next victim of identity theft? Now, identity theft is happening with alarming frequency. In fact, the government calls it one of the fastest growing crimes in the nation.

Thieves can use nothing more than a phone number and an address, and they are able to get credit cards in your name and charge thousands of dollars. They get the goods and believe me, you get the bills. It is an incredible nightmare. You can spend months, even years trying to clear your name. And this is not -- I repeat -- not a victimless crime. As a matter of fact, it happened recently to me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (on camera): I started shredding about four months ago, after I had identity theft on me. So at first, I didn't know how they had stolen my identity, how they had gotten my records, and I thought maybe it was because I had left stuff outside. So I just bought a shredder, and now I am shred happy. I can't stop shredding.

Once you actually figure out that you are a victim, it's often too late. I mean, I didn't realize it was going on for about four or five months, and by that point, the bank is no longer liable for a lot of the checks. Unless you catch it right away, you get stuck paying the bill, and I am out like $25,000. There is someone like in Nevada, who has been using my checking information. There is someone on Maryland who has been using -- I have like been supporting, you know, a larger population of people around the United States unbeknownst to me. So it's pretty -- and I laugh about it now, because there is nothing else you can do, but it's incredibly frustrating.

Well, now -- I mean, I shred everything. I now check my bank records, you know, daily almost. I am incredibly now careful about where I bank. I read -- you know, I closed down my account with the bank that I had been in, because I found out that not all banks are created equal, not all banks are the same in terms of how they deal with this.

I'm out an awful lot of money, but I am also out an enormous amount of time. I mean, it has taken a lot of time to gather all of the evidence. And you've got to check your bank statements all of the time. And now, that you can do it online, it's a lot easier. So just you've got to be a lot smarter than I was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: That is definitely true. About three-quarters of a million people a year are victims of identity theft -- three-quarters of a million. And we saw a story on the wires this week by AP reporter, Nedra Pickler. She was writing the story, because she was a victim of identity theft as well. In just one short week, she had $30,000 charged on her credit cards. She joins us now from Washington -- welcome.

I've got to tell you, I had $25,000 over the course of like five months. You beat me; $30,000 in a week. How did that happen?

NEDRA PICKLER, VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT: You know, there are so many different ways that identity theft can happen. Mine happened through someone using my information to open up credit card accounts. And I still to this day don't know how they got that information.

Luckily, I was able to catch it early. I was sitting at my desk about, oh, a year-and-a-half ago, and an investigator from Neiman Marcus called me. And he said, "I think you have been a victim of identity fraud." And I at first didn't believe him, because I had just seen a credit report, and it looked clean. But then he said, "No, someone came in here on Christmas Eve, and they opened an instant credit account and immediately charged $9,000 worth of merchandise."

COOPER: And that's pretty scary...

PICKLER: And he...

COOPER: That's pretty scary that you still do not know how they got this information. What information did they have that they were able to use to open up credit card accounts?

PICKLER: Well, they had my social security number, my name, my birth date and my address. They used my address in Washington and one of my old addresses from back in Michigan as well.

COOPER: And that's it. That's all they needed.

PICKLER: That's all they needed. And I never noticed anything stolen or missing, so I'm not real sure where they even got the information.

COOPER: Then how -- I mean, how long did this take you to get it cleared up, to get your credit report to reflect that this was a crime?

PICKLER: Well, it took several months. It turned out that there were 11 different credit cards opened in my name within that same Christmas week, and there were about $35,000 in charges. And so, for each one of those fraudulent accounts, I had to track down the creditor, explain the situation, fill out affidavits, get them notarized, contact the local police departments, file police reports. And then in the end, it took even more time, because even though they were supposed to remove some of those fraudulent accounts from my credit report, they didn't come off right away, and I had to get on them to make them get it off.

COOPER: Now, the Federal Trade Commission has recommended several steps to take to try to minimize the risk of this fraud, and we're going to put some of this on the screen. And I know -- I certainly wish I had known this information. I know, Nedra, you probably do as well.

The first thing they recommend is to give your social security number only when absolutely necessary. You don't want to be giving it out willy-nilly. Second, follow up with credit card creditors if your bills do not arrive on time. Minimize the identification and credit cards that you can carry. Also order a copy of your credit report every year and make sure it's accurate. They also go on to recommend two other steps: shred old charge receipts, bank checks and statements, expired credit cards or credit card offers, and if your state uses social security number as your driver's license number, ask to submit or substitute another number.

Do you have any other recommendations for minimizing risk, Nedra?

PICKLER: You know, something that happened to me in my case is that I started getting credit cards in the mail. And I just threw them away, because I figured, oh, this is just some sort of promotion where they are trying to give these pre-approved cards. It was around the Christmas season. But now I know if you get any unsolicited credit cards, you probably should call and check up on those. Also the advice about your social security number is very good, because when you think about it, you probably give that out to a lot of people that really don't need it.

COOPER: And just very quickly, we want to go through some steps that you can take once this has happened to you to try to clear your name. You should try to contact the major credit agencies immediately, Equifax, Experian TransUnion. Ask them to issue a fraud alert on your account. Creditors then must contact you before any accounts are opened in your name, get copies of your credit report, file a report with the police, get a copy as proof and file a complaint with the FTR, which tracks identity theft.

Nedra Pickler, thanks very much for being with us this morning -- I hope it all works out for you. I'm sorry that you belong to this select club.

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