Bakersfield.com: Kern County news, events, classifieds, shopping, & search

RSS Feed   Print Story   E-mail Story        

Identity theft scams getting more clever

BY JASON KOTOWSKI, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jkotowski@bakersfield.com | Monday, Aug 18 2008 8:42 AM

Last Updated: Monday, Aug 18 2008 8:42 AM

The sci-fi show “The X-Files” dealt with aliens, monsters and shadowy government figures, but it also had a slogan that is as useful in protecting against real-life identity theft as it was in saving the lives of its fictional protagonists — “Trust no one.”

That’s the advice law enforcement is giving to people looking to avoid thousands of dollars of fraudulent charges on their credit cards. In the digital age, you can never be too careful.

People need to get into a pattern when it comes to protecting themselves, Bakersfield police Sgt. Tim Brown said. All documents with personal information should be shredded on a regular basis and mail should be checked often. Important papers and passwords should be kept under lock and key.

“Be aware of what’s going on with your personal information and if you see something suspicious report it immediately,” Brown said.

Many of the scams are conducted on the Internet, with offers of lottery prizes or other gifts if the intended victim first sends their account number or money to “cover shipping and processing costs.” Don’t fall for it.

“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Brown said.

The elderly are a frequent target, Sheriff’s Department Senior Deputy Stephen Pederson said. But anyone can be a victim. Thieves will break into mailboxes or cars to grab credit card statements or other documents with personal information.

Tami Nealy, director of communications for the identity theft protection company LifeLock, said recently they’ve been hearing of a scam where a person calls claiming to be from court and tells the intended victim that they missed jury duty and a warrant is out for their arrest. The person then says that the situation can be cleared up, but they need the victim’s personal information first.

Another scam involves people posing as members of the American Red Cross and telling the wives of soldiers that their husband was injured overseas and they need confirmation of his Social Security number and other information.

“These thieves are smart and savvy,” Nealy said. “It’s a low-risk, high-reward crime.”