Domestic Terrorism
Murray Sabrin
This is the first essay I have ever written about a personal matter. I am angry, and you should be, too, because you could be next victim. I—or more exactly, my wife—was recently a victim of a crime, identity theft, a crime that should never occur in America. In fact, the primary reason identity theft occurs is because we have a Social Security number that has become a domestic personal identifying number, when it was never intended to be one. HA. The first rule of society is that everything government officials say is untrue unless proven true. Cynical? You bet. The evidence is on the cynics’ side.
When I returned from spring break I went through the mail and noticed a bill for a cell phone company we do not use. I called my wife in Florida who promptly called the phone company customer service center. The rep told her the last digits of the SS# on the account, and my wife confirmed that it was her number. The cell phone account was opened up in Brooklyn about two weeks ago. My wife called the number, a gutsy thing to do but she was pissed off (sorry for the academic jargon) and a male youngster answered the phone.
The cell phone company closed the account, and Florence is not liable for the charges. She notified one of the credit bureaus who sent her a form to fill out establishing her identity, and a hold was placed on her credit. This means she would have to be contacted if anyone wants to open a new account. So far, so good.
Last Tuesday I informed the business school secretaries of our recent ordeal. One of the secretaries had her credit card number stolen twice in one year. Thousand of dollars of merchandise was charged. She then told me one of her nephews is a Secret Service agent who is assigned to tracking down identity theft perpetrators. Last Tuesday I filed an identity theft report with the local police. The sergeant and I had a discussion of the jurisdictional problems facing identity theft victims, which brings up another major issue, namely, the lack of coordination among police forces to stamp out this form of domestic terrorism. The sergeant told me of a case of a local resident who spent two years trying to regain his identity. Two years!!!!!! He said the man was in tears because of his ordeal.
Why is identity theft so rampant? Thank the federal government for giving us a Social Security number that has morphed into a thief’s delight. Apparently, if someone has your SS#, he or she can create accounts, like a cell phone, in your name or obtain credit cards in your name. How this is possible given the checks and balances that could or should be in place is beyond me? Clearly, there should be more verification by credit card companies, banks, department stores, Internet based firms, etc., to verify who you are. It is sad that the bad guys have make life miserable for the rest of us. But one strain of human nature is to rip us off. For that kind of behavior people have to be punished-- swiftly and hard.
I do not know what the penalties are for identify theft. But they should be restitution to the credit card company, a similar payment to the victim, and a similar payment to the police. In other words, the supplier should be made “whole.” The victim should be compensated for the time and effort used to report the crime and emotional trauma, and the thief should reimburse the police for their efforts. Criminals should pay dearly for their crimes. Repeat offenders--are you ready for the draconian measure?--should be deported. Where? Who cares? As far away from a computer, cell phone, telephone, mailbox, etc. America has too many thieves. Let’s reduce the number of domestic terrorists once-and-for-all.
Also, we should no longer have to use SS# for banks, credit card companies, etc. Let’s ban the use of the SS# as a personal identity number. Identify theft goes hand in hand with big government. And the SS# is big government’s primary tool to keep track of us, while providing thieves with a means to rip all of us off.
In the meantime, you can protect yourself from identity theft by learning more about it at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. You should also obtain your credit report from one or all of the three credit bureaus, http://www.equifax.com/, http://www.experian.com/, and http://www.tuc.com/. In New Jersey you can get one from each company for free once a year. You can stop pre-approved credit offers by calling the credit reporting industry at 1-888-567-8688. Your local police station should have an Identity Theft Reference Guide. Get one now and tell all your friends, relatives and colleagues about it.
Murray Sabrin, Ph.D., is professor of finance in the Anisfield School of Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey, where he is executive director of the Center for Business and Public Policy (www.ramapo.edu/cbpp.)