IDENTITY THEFT – IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT CREDIT CARDS

It’s a common misconception by consumers that identity theft is a distinct crime and that its focus is credit cards. The amusing and clever CitiCorp TV advertisements have promoted this idea. However identity theft is tool used by criminals in committing a wide variety of crimes. A quick look at our Identity Theft Most Wanted website reveals those wanted for violent crimes often use identity theft as a method of committing their crimes or as a way of running from the law. In addition identity theft is rapidly becoming a preferred tool of organized crime groups. The following story illustrates both of these points.

From Yahoo News:
August 22 -- Local and federal authorities made a sweep of arrests Tuesday in a large identity theft and fraud ring, officials said.
Investigators said the case started with identity theft, but it spread into mortgage fraud, money laundering and possibly drug trafficking all over the country.
"There's large numbers of individuals that were victimized here in the Kansas City area and across the nation," Special Agent Chuck Green said.
An indictment that was unsealed on Tuesday showed 16 people were charged in the case. Almost all of the 16 were taken into custody.
In all, officials said there are about 50 suspects in the case.
The man who allegedly orchestrated the ring is Carlton P. Strother, 38. He was arrested without incident at his home at 36th Street and Chestnut Avenue in Kansas City.
Officials said the suspects would take personal credit information and turn it into forged documents and driver's licenses.
Investigators said Strother had help from people inside at least two local businesses. The indictment claims customer credit information was taken from Jeremy Franklin Suzuki automobile dealership and Hearthside Lending, a real estate loan brokerage. The information was then sold to Strother, according to the indictment.
The indictment claimed the suspects had access to a personal computer that could create a counterfeit Kansas driver's license. It would have name of an identity theft victim, but the picture of one of the conspirators.
The suspects would then use the fraudulent documents to buy items on other people's credit, including real estate transactions, all of which drained millions of dollars from the community, officials said.
"They would go and buy high quality electronics, big screen televisions, computers, different things like that, and then they would bring them back and then they would either have them sold off, take them in payment for making the false ID or other things. We've actually seen them transferred from car to car," Green said. "We approximate about $5 million worth of losses just in this particular area and this group."
Investigators are trying to find out where all the money went.
"We're not sure just exactly where it's all at now, and we've been making some inroads in trying to find out. That's part of what we're doing with the financial investigation -- to trace that money back and see where it all went to," Green said.
Strother was charged with conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. He faces 209 years in prison and $3.25 million in fines.
More arrests are expected in the case.
Car Dealership Employee
One of the people arrested Tuesday, Arlester E. Scott, Jr., worked at the Suzuki dealership in question, KMBC's Peggy Breit reported.
"Les Scott worked for us for a few years and was a trusted employee," said Jeremy Franklin of Franklin Suzuki.
Franklin said he was shocked to learn that Scott was accused of stealing four or five customers' financial information several years ago. Franklin said that couldn't happen any more since new procedures were installed in 2003.
"We have a process called electronic document management now that scans customers' information in and then is shredded, therefore files are not kept anymore," Franklin said.
Investigators have been working on the case for more than four years. The Kansas City Financial Crimes Task Force led the probe, which is headed by the Secret Service.