Thread: L.A. Times:Theft of identity compounds the crime

Theft of identity compounds the crime
to get jobs.
By Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer

July 9, 2007

Adrian Flores was working the identity theft beat as a police detective in Los Angeles County when he realized that he too had become a victim.

First, he answered a phone call about an outstanding bill for furniture store purchases that he hadn't made. Then he received several letters from the Internal Revenue Service, including one demanding $40,000 in back taxes on income he hadn't earned. When he ran his credit, the report showed he owed money at a hospital where he had never been treated.

Flores later learned that at least one of the culprits was an illegal immigrant working in Utah for Swift & Co. meat processing that had been one of the targets of a massive raid by federal immigration agents, who arrested 1,274 people in six states in December 2006.

"It rocks your world," he said. "It's like a little ball of string. It gets thicker and thicker and thicker as it goes along."

Under pressure from federal authorities to verify their workers' legal status, more employers are checking the validity of Social Security numbers, and that has caused many illegal immigrants to use stolen rather than made-up numbers to get jobs, immigration officials said.

"It used to be that we would only see people come in with purely bogus documents," said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "More and more we are seeing real people, real victims."

Although the agency does not break out identity theft statistics, Myers said, "we are definitely seeing a trend."

To better protect their businesses, more employers are using the Department of Homeland Security's Basic Pilot program, which enables them to check the validity of Social Security numbers online. But Basic Pilot doesn't detect identity theft. As long as the name and Social Security number are legitimate, the online system will indicate the person using them is authorized to work.

Word of this weakness in the system has spread quickly among illegal immigrants and the document theft rings that cater to them. Thieves will dig through trash cans or scan the Internet looking for Social Security numbers. Sometimes, criminals or homeless people are willing to sell their identity documents, Myers said. There also have been cases in which employers provide their workers with stolen numbers, Homeland Security authorities said.

The majority of immigrants using fake identification don't know that the Social Security numbers belong to real people, said Marielena Hincapié of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles. They are just trying to find a way to get a job, she said.

"Most workers are buying documents they believe to be false," she said. "There isn't really any intention of stealing someone's identity."

Yet there are victims.



"Identity theft, whether it is by someone who is here illegally or legally, it is still the same craziness," said Linda Foley, founder of the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center. "It temporarily turns their life upside down."

Foley said she has seen one person's identity used by as many as 20 people. Often, even if the government may be aware of the problem, the victim won't discover that his identity was stolen until he receives a demand for back taxes or when he tries to buy a house or a car and realizes his credit has been destroyed.

"There is no automatic red flag to notify victims," said Betsy Broder, an assistant director at the Federal Trade Commission.

This spring, at the direction of President Bush, the FTC and Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales issued a report on identity theft in general and a strategic plan to attack it. The voluminous report singled out the issue of immigrant-related identity theft and recommended an increase in prosecutions.

ICE launched 11 task forces last year and six this spring targeting immigrant-related ID fraud. More than 540 investigations have been opened, and so far 243 people have been convicted of various fraud and immigration violations since April 2006.

The largest identity theft bust was the one last year at the Swift plants; it followed a 10-month investigation triggered by allegations that illegal immigrants were using the stolen identities of U.S. citizens. More than 300 illegal immigrants were prosecuted as a result of the investigation.

There have also been smaller cases, including the indictment last month of 10 former workers at Fresh Del Monte Produce in Portland, Ore., on charges of possession of a fraudulent immigration document or Social Security fraud. According to ICE, an investigation in that case showed that dozens of employees at American Staffing Resources Inc., which hires workers for the fruit and vegetable processing plant, were using Social Security numbers that belonged to real people. Some of the victims were children; others were elderly and receiving benefits. Some of the numbers had belonged to people who had died.

"The task force approach was really the first concentrated, nationwide effort to attack the problem," said Myers, the ICE official.

Anti-illegal immigrant groups criticized the federal government, however, saying that the recent actions do not go far enough and that millions of illegal immigrants using other people's documents are ignored. They also say the government should create a secure identification card.

"There is no will in this administration to enforce the law," said Rosemary Jenks, director of governmental relations for Numbers USA, an anti-illegal immigration group. "Every person who is working illegally has committed a crime because they have either used fake documents, stolen documents or they have made their own."

Doris Meissner, former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said that task forces and raids won't end identity theft by illegal immigrants. Identity theft is a very dangerous trend, she said, but "it is not ultimately going to be solved by more and more ICE law enforcement actions." Immigrants will continue to find documents that will enable them to find work.

"The jobs are there, and there is no legal way for the economic demands to be met at the present time," said Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

When Flores, the police officer, started investigating his own identity theft, documents incorrectly showed that he had lived in Utah, Colorado, Florida and Virginia and that he had worked at the Swift plant and a fitness center. A retirement account had been set up at Merrill Lynch in New York. His mother's maiden name on his Social Security file had been changed at an office in Montebello.

Flores, 42, didn't lose any money, but his damaged credit prevented him from buying a house. And the process to clear his name was long and difficult. Flores made numerous calls and sent letters, identification theft police reports and documents to various governmental agencies. The IRS threatened to send his case to collections and told him he would have to fight it in Tax Court. The Social Security administration refused to give him a new number.

"It was more scary than frustrating," he said. "It's the federal government. You know they are going to put a lien on something, like my bank account. I don't make that much money and I had a family to support."

Flores said he is now very careful not to give out too much information to anyone and to watch his back when doing financial transactions.

"You have to constantly be on top of it," he said, "or it can get out of hand."

anna.gorman@latimes.com

In order for me to access my SS information, I have to give my SS#, address, phone number, date of birth and my mother's maiden name. (On the computer, I must use a pin number!)

I think this information should be required by the SS office in order to confirm a SS# to an employer.

It would be a simple matter to include this info on any job application!

Any item not agreeing with SS records, should be a bell-ringer!

I hope someone who knows more about this will enlighten us, but isn't the SS required to send an end-of-year statement to wage earners? I get one about a month before my birthday and I assumed everyone else does. It won't stop the fraud, but it should bring it to your attention at least one time a year.

The majority of immigrants using fake identification don't know that the Social Security numbers belong to real people, said Marielena Hincapié of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles. They are just trying to find a way to get a job, she said.

Oh puleeze, I'm so tired of the apologists for crime.

Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

I hope someone who knows more about this will enlighten us, but isn't the SS required to send an end-of-year statement to wage earners? I get one about a month before my birthday and I assumed everyone else does. It won't stop the fraud, but it should bring it to your attention at least one time a year.

Yes it is unless they are self employed then a fed Id number is required but you have to have a ss# to get that...(subs)They slip through using made up numbers or stolen ones the SS office only tells some things as employer if they are ok to work under that name and number nothing else... by the time companies send out the W4 at the tax time the criminal have moved on or the job was finished ... at that point the IRS, the companies are stuck with the taxes...Did that make any since...? But worse then that are the ones we get here over and over agian...same name same number... they dont hang out in the office to long when we ask for a nother form of Id LOL
ITS like any other criminal they do get caught…we have a wall of shame here now that shows the bad names and numbers on the board... belive it or not they still come in trying to get a job with fake names and numbers.

Originally Posted by curiouspat

The majority of immigrants using fake identification don't know that the Social Security numbers belong to real people, said Marielena Hincapié of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles. They are just trying to find a way to get a job, she said.

Oh puleeze, I'm so tired of the apologists for crime.

That makes two of us! They make their crimes sound so innocent! Its like saying " I only cut off his finger cause I wanted to wear his diamond ring"

That makes two of us! They make their crimes sound so innocent! Its like saying " I only cut off his finger cause I wanted to wear his diamond ring

Cliffdid, That's perfect!!!! I'm going to use your line, if you don't mind!

Also I require a certif. of Insurance and workers comp...
Workers is a joke they give out a certificate to any one for 13 dollars... with a picture Id or a paper sayin you are who you say you are... also included in our wall of shame...If they never go back and pay we are not notifyed we have to call and ask when we get each workers comp... they dont alwas answer right away... Insuance is the same way for 38 dollars Any one can get a binder that says they have insurance We arent called if they dont pay we have to check them out...
It is easyer safer if I just hire myself... what the heck...


this are the forms we use ...

http://jobsearch.about.com/gi/dynamic/o ... rm/i-9.pdf


this are the forms we use ...

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf


All three forms say right on them its against the law to lie on them... but what does that mean its only a job right... They where Looking for one when they found this one...

I'll say this again. All of this could be avoided with a tamper proof SS card with photo and fingerprint on it.

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