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Identity thieves target ethnic surnames
July 16, 2006

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter

Miguel Garcia was making a name for himself in radio as the afternoon on-air personality at a Hammond, Ind., station in March when he opened a shocking letter from the IRS.

It said he owed $35,000 in back taxes. Three days later, he got another letter from the IRS saying he owed an additional $45,000. A third letter arrived saying he owed $95,000, and more followed nearly every other day for a total of about 30 letters, putting him on the hook for close to half a million dollars in back taxes -- and the letters keep coming.

'I don't have $95,000 to give you'

After the third letter, he finally called the Internal Revenue Service. "When I talked to the IRS, I explained my situation and said, 'I don't have $95,000 to give you.' "

HOW CAN YOU PREVENT ID THEFT?

Tips from Christine Nielsen of the Illinois attorney general's office on protecting your Social Security number:

Do not carry your Social Security card in your wallet.


Do not print the number on checks.

Store your Social Security card in a secure place in your home.

Shred personal documents.

If you are asked for your Social Security number, ask why you have to provide it, how it will be protected, what the policy is for informing you should there be a security breach, and what will happen if you don't give it out?

Never give out personal information over the phone unless you initiated the contact.

IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR IDENTITY HAS BEEN STOLEN:

Call 311 and ask to file a consumer complaint.

Contact the Social Security Administration:
www.ssa.gov or (800) 269-0271.

Carefully review your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus and put a long-term (seven-year) fraud alert on your account. It's free, and you can do it in one step at www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling (877) 322-8228.

File a report with the Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov or (877) FTC-HELP.

Get help with IRS communications from the Illinois attorney general. The office has consumer advocates who are bilingual in Spanish and Polish available: www.ag.state.il.us or (800) 386-5438.


ID THEFT BY THE NUMBERS


11,137: Identity theft complaints from Illinois victims.

1,464: Employment-related fraud complaints in Illinois.

1,100: Government document or benefits-fraud complaints in Illinois.

Biggest concentrations of Illinois ID theft victims:
4,088: Chicago
180: Rockford
150: Aurora
132: Elgin
123: Joliet

3,000: Total calls to Illinois attorney general's ID theft hotline since Jan. 1.

300 (10%) : Work-related ID theft complaints.

240 (80%): Victims with Hispanic, European or Asian last names.

SOURCES: Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse; Illinois attorney general's office.


After some research, the IRS provided Garcia with a detailed list of all of the jobs he was reported to have held from 2003 to 2006 -- 60 in all -- and the picture became clearer. Some one, or several someones, had been using his Social Security number.

He had become another in the growing pool of victims of identity theft, one of 255,000 people across the United States who filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission in 2005.

But his case may be part of a relatively new twist in the scam. Authorities think Garcia was targeted because of his common Hispanic name.

Miguel Garcia -- like John Smith or Jan Kowalski or Shui Wong -- is part of a growing trend: legal immigrants, naturalized citizens and U.S.-born residents with common ethnic names increasingly targeted by illegal immigrants who resort to stealing plausible identities so they can find jobs to pursue the American dream, causing those who came before them mounting headaches.

Now Garcia, known as "The Freakin' Puerto Rican, Donnie Devoe" at WPWX-FM (92.3), is in damage-control mode, trying to clear his name and his credit by sending the IRS his check stubs, past tax returns and Social Security reports. "I was freaking out. They had it that I worked one job that made $150,000," Garcia said. "She asked if I worked for this other company because last year I had made $250,000 that I hadn't filed taxes for." Garcia, who rents, had to laugh, "If I made that kind of money, I would have bought a home by now."

'We've definitely noticed a trend'



Cries for help often wind up at the Illinois attorney general's office, which started an identity theft hotline in January of this year -- the first hotline of its kind at the state level. The office has seen a steady increase in the number of people calling for assistance. They call after getting letters from the IRS saying they owe back taxes on jobs they never held, being denied unemployment benefits because state records show they are gainfully employed at more than one job, or when they lose their public assistance benefits because of income they're supposedly earning.

"We've definitely noticed a trend just since January," said Nikole Armour, a consumer advocate with the attorney general's office. "Of the 3,000 complaints we've logged, 300 have been for work-related ID theft, and of those, 240 of them involved people with Hispanic, Polish or Asian last names."

Garcia's ordeal may take years to clean up and will surely mean more headaches, if not more money. The attorney general's office has been able to get the IRS to put its demands on hold and got three Miguel Garcia impostors fired from the jobs they used his Social Security number to get. But those three are a drop in the bucket, and Garcia can only imagine how many more are still out there using his number.

Most government agencies that study identity theft statistics don't track ethnicity of victims. But even coupled with a general underreporting of identity thefts, stories like Miguel Garcia's are trickling out. Trickling too fast for some.

There are groups that would prefer not to shed light on the issue, fearing it will stoke anti-immigrant feelings at a time when comprehensive immigration reform is at the national forefront.

'A pervasive problem'



But Richard M. Stana, director of justice issues for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, has testified before Congress on the prevalence of identity fraud and its links to alien illegal activities. He says the Immigration and Naturalization Service reports extensive use of fraudulent documents by aliens, intercepting tens of thousands of fraudulent documents used for obtaining employment -- including counterfeit Social Security cards.

"There is every indication that this is a growing problem, and I can't see that growth abating anytime soon," Stana said. "This is a pervasive problem, whether the theft is for getting work or stealing money."

Stana testified that any rise in employment-related ID thefts targeting people with ethnic surnames could be traced to the 1986 law that required employers to collect documentation from new employees proving their identity and eligibility to work. According to INS figures, 50,000 unauthorized aliens used 78,000 fraudulent documents to obtain employment in the 20 months between October 1996 and May 1998. Of those documents, 36 percent were Social Security cards.

"I think most people don't know when someone has taken their ID," said Claudia Farrell, spokeswoman for the Consumer Protection Division of the Federal Trade Commission. "Many times, people don't even find out they've been victimized until months or even years after the fact, and some victims never come forward," she said, "so there's a lot of unreported ID theft."

Many people, exhausted from the crushing load of paperwork, don't further burden themselves with reporting the crime to multiple agencies that may or may not communicate with each other.

Reporting is further complicated when friends or family "borrow" the identity of a child born here with an ethnic surname.

Chicago Police Department sources in the Financial Crime Division say although they can't pin down reliable numbers because of the way statistics are collected, they are seeing an uptick in people using the Social Security numbers of babies and children born here. With those names and numbers, they can get mortgage loans, file for duplicate public assistance benefits and commit credit card fraud.

Jay Foley, director of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center, said the problem is skyrocketing because it's very easy to assume a child's identity. The crime goes undetected for up to 18 years and then devastates the victim for life. It's difficult to detect because the child or parent never suspects there is a reason to check the child's credit.

"The beauty for an ID thief is that when they're dealing with a child, they get to establish the identity," Foley said. "The thief could be a stranger or a relative -- maybe even a parent who has convinced themselves that using the child's number to help get the family out of debt is in everyone's best interest."

The child is usually hit with the revelation on the day he or she goes to get a driver's license, is unable to get a college loan, or is denied a credit card or an apartment lease. "I've heard so many stories of child victims getting derailed so badly from going to college, or getting an apartment -- it's just sad," Foley said. "And it's underreported, especially when there's a relative involved."

Most experts agree that illegal immigrants do their best to remain in the shadows -- they don't put a spotlight on themselves by opening up charge accounts, running up bills and failing to make payments. Most are just trying to make a living, and some don't understand the damage they can cause for other people.

'God bless them, but . . .'



Noel Gerena, a military veteran in his mid-30s who lives on the North Side, empathizes. "I was fortunate to be born into citizenship. I understand the plight of the Mexican people," Gerena said. "I understand why they're here. I'm glad they came! This is the land of opportunity, and God bless them, but this is causing problems for me."

Two years ago, Gerena found out his Social Security number was used by someone else to get a job. Gerena had lost his union gig and went to the Illinois Department of Employment Security to file for unemployment benefits. He was denied because, according to state records, Gerena was employed at a company in the Pilsen neighborhood. After going through the long process of contacting the Social Security Administration, the IRS and the credit bureaus to get himself back on track, he was finally able to collect his benefits and move on.

Fast forward two years to spring 2006. Gerena lost his job and was again faced with the same roadblock to unemployment benefits for the same reason -- he was "already employed." Gerena recently learned that the same company that two years ago employed multiple people under his name and Social Security number was back at it, despite repeated pleas for it to stop employing people using his number.

"I called [this company], and they told me: 'What do you want us to do about it?' They didn't care," Gerena said.

'How could this have happened?'

Francisco Rodriguez, of Zion, a naturalized citizen since the 1986 amnesty initiative, fought with a company that repeatedly employed people using his name and number. Despite several requests for them to flag his name and number, he says his pleas fell on deaf ears. "I'd call the company, and they'd only say they couldn't do anything, or that they'd let that employee go already," Rodriguez, who is in his mid-50s, said in Spanish. "They'd tell me that person had provided all the necessary documents to prove they were who they said. Then they just stopped answering my phone calls."

Even though the Social Security Administration offers two free major database tools for employers and third-party submitters, like payroll services, to verify names and Social Security numbers for annual wage reports, there is no incentive for employers looking to exploit cheap labor to use those tools and no real mechanism for enforcement.

Both Rodriguez and Gerena say they have been told by the Social Security Administration that their situations aren't dire because their credit hasn't been affected.

Kia Green, an SSA spokeswoman, said that when a theft is finally reported and the victim provides the appropriate documentation, there is no permanent damage to a victim's Social Security earnings record.

She advised combing through your Social Security earnings report each year. If you don't notice that your reported income is too high, you will run into trouble trying to claim your benefits later.

It's that potential for more trouble that keeps all three victims awake at night, wondering how this happened and when -- or if -- it will ever be resolved.

"I know I never lost my Social Security card or my license, so how could this have happened?" Rodriguez said. "And how do I keep them from doing it again -- they know the number; they can go out and use it again. He'll always have access, and I'll always be worried someone will open credit card accounts and get me in debt."

'I live in fear'

Experts say the numbers could be lifted off stolen mail or out of the trash of a target, or bought from black-market dealers who use high-tech computer hacking to get numbers and make fake cards. In the case of children, a relative or acquaintance might simply ask a relative with a new baby to lend out the number -- or just steal it.

"I live in fear," said Gerena, who got another bomb dropped on him in June, when he was notified that his personal information was on the Department of Veterans Affairs laptop that disappeared in May. "I'm scared to get a credit card, I'm scared to try to purchase a car or a home. I started telling my family and friends to tell anyone who calls for me that I was never in the military, and if they say they were a friend of mine to tell them I died in a car accident," he said. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

Christine Nielsen, a lawyer with the Illinois attorney general's office, has heard those words over and over again. "We try to alert the government agencies about this problem," she said. "They've been responsive, but it's new enough that agencies just don't know what to do."

To try to figure it out, the office hosted its first ID theft summit Thursday for representatives of 100 business and consumer groups, law enforcement officials and government entities to identify the most pervasive identity theft issues and come up with ideas for new legislation, education initiatives and improved intra-agency cooperation.

"The summit addressed all the problems -- like this one -- we never anticipated," said Deborah Hagin, chief of the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division.

"There's nothing that can beat the networking that went on," Hagin said. "All these groups have seen the impact of the problem; now they can continue to cross-educate and figure out how they can help each other and stay connected."

ecepeda@suntimes.com