Woman Steals Thousands in Identity Theft Fraud
Posted on May 5, 2008
Filed Under Felonies, Fraud, Identity Theft |
A 27-year-old Utah woman has been charged with defrauding people of thousands of dollars in California, Utah and Oregon. She bilked her own mother-in-law out of thousands of dollars in unauthorized credit card charges and illegally obtained loans. She swindled a California man out of $14,343 through fraudulent wire transfers to a bank account. In Oregon, the woman used forged checks to steal $4,000 from a neighbor. The woman is charged with a series of felonies, including identity fraud, communications fraud, theft and forgery.
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in California, affecting 20,000 people every day. Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person’s personal identification information, without authority, to falsely pose as that person to commit fraud and gain access to the other person’s finances. Selling or transferring someone’s personal information to another person to obtain money or goods is also considered identity theft.
Identity theft charges can include:
- Internet identity theft: Making internet purchases with another person’s credit card.
- Credit card theft: Applying for a credit card using someone else’s identification or making purchases with another person’s card.
- Bank identity theft: Applying for a loan, mortgage or bank account using some else’s identification.
- Counterfeit: Altering or making a counterfeit credit card, driver’s license or official record.
- Forgery: Forging another person’s signature on documents.
- Publishing account numbers.
To protect yourself from identity theft, safeguard your Social Security number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, driver’s license number, account numbers, passwords and other personal information. Shred credit card statements and offers, bank statements, cancelled checks, loan information and other sensitive documents before putting them in the trash. Do not give out identifying information to unknown people who contact you via the phone or internet. If you believe that you might be the victim of identity theft, contact an attorney immediately. Credit recovery can take more than 500 hours and a year of effort.
- LegalPro
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