Identity theft not a serious problem locally

The fastest-growing crime in the United States isn't yet a serious problem in the Springfield area, and if local banking and law enforcement officials have anything to do with it, it won't be.

Identity theft is "a crime of opportunity," according to Doug Marrs, vice president of operations at Great Southern Bank. Marrs notes that the crime was extremely uncommon 10 years ago, but that with its publicizing, more criminals are learning that it's "an easy way to obtain money."

Springfield Police Department Det. Dave Bowden said the most common type of identity theft occurs where people don't protect their Social Security numbers. Criminals also obtain information from checks and credit card offers people receive in the mail.

How can citizens protect themselves?

Bowden advises:

Don't have your Social Security number put on your drivers license. When you get your license, ask the person at the Department of Motor Vehicles to come up with a computer-generated number.

Don't put your Social Security number or your birthday on your checks. This information can be used to help someone obtain your identity. If some form of ID is needed, at a grocery store, for example, they can write down the computer-generated number you were given at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Shred any papers like those asking you to apply for a pre-approved credit card. Be careful what you're throwing away.

Check your credit report at least once a year to see if there are items that don't belong to you.

Bowden said it is extremely difficult to investigate identity theft because the victim and criminal rarely reside in the same jurisdiction.

"It's especially difficult if the criminal is living in a state other than where the victim is living. Then I have to contact the police where the criminal is living. But the police there may have more work than they can handle and don't have anyone who can take on an identity theft case," Bowden said.

As the identity-theft problem grows nationwide, banks are becoming more adept at catching the culprits. "We've been successful at finding these people by using surveillance cameras and using private investigators the banks employ," Marrs said.

"We have a fraud contact list with the names and phone numbers of people from the FBI, the Secret Service and other law enforcement personnel. When a fraud happens, we contact the people on the list. Contacting these people has helped us be successful in getting the criminals prosecuted."

Being able to recognize identity theft has also become part of a teller's training at most banks.

"Most banks host training classes and seminars for bank employees where they learn what to do when they think a check might be forged or someone is using a fake ID," Marrs said.

Penny Melton, first assistant of the Property Unit in the Greene County Prosecutor's Office, said that identity theft cases are difficult to prove for two reasons: first, establishing a venue (where the case will be prosecuted); second, establishing identity.

"These crimes are not done in person," Melton said. "There is no eyewitness or face-to-face contact. Short of a confession, it's difficult to catch them. Because it is difficult to prove, we either charge them with forgery or may charge them with fraudulent use of a credit device, which means using someone else's credit or debit card."

She had no statistics on identity theft but said prosecutors have "lots of forgery cases," which she estimates as 30 to 40 percent of their property-theft caseload.

Melton said prosecutors are not seeing lots of cases where people are stealing preapproved credit card application forms out of mailboxes, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

She added that law enforcement officials are lagging behind in solving the crime of identity theft, because it wasn't a crime in Missouri until last year, when the late Gov. Mel Carnahan signed a law making it illegal.

According to that Missouri law, the first time a person is convicted he or she can serve up to six months in jail; the second conviction can result in up to a year in jail; and the third and subsequent offenses can carry a sentence of up to five years in prison.

In addition to jail time, the court also may order the guilty person to pay restitution, which may include paying all costs to the victim, including attorney fees, fees incurred in clearing his credit history, court costs, and the costs of any legal proceedings to clear his name.