The computer age has brought with it new kinds of crimes that were unheard of a short time ago. The Federal Trade Commission states that identity theft is the single most common form of fraud being reported. Other sources state that approximately 15 million U.S.residents have their identities stolen each year. With numbers like that, a prudent question to ask would be, what makes this form of fraud so attractive?
The answer to the question is what financial analysts might refer to as a very good risk-reward ratio. In comparison with other types of theft or fraud it doesn’t require much in the way of heavy lifting. There is no breaking and entering required, use of firearms, even leaving the house in many cases. Even more attractive is the lack of police involvement, investigation, or even prosecution that takes place with these crimes.
Too often the situation will occur something like this:
The thief obtains your identity information and perhaps your credit card information. They make charges on your card, which you dispute. The card company then credits the money back to your account and writes it off. You try to make a report to the police, however they won’t take the report because since the charge was credited back to you, they say you aren’t out anything. The store that sold the merchandise was paid by the credit card company, so they don’t prosecute, and the credit card company doesn’t file charges as it isn’t profitable in the overall scheme of things. The problem is that your identity is now out there and being used.
Next you may find out that other accounts have been opened in your name, but you never even saw the bills. Your credit is ruined, but no one seems to know who has jurisdiction. You try to make a complaint with your local police department, but the accounts were opened in Deleware, and the charges were made in Wyoming over the internet from a company in New York. After that you may even begin getting IRS Form 1099’s in the mail each year indicating that you owe taxes on money you earned in states where you have never even been.
With millions of cases like this being reported every year, it becomes easy to see how overwhelming it is. Additionally it starts getting easier to see why in the grand scheme of things there is very little chance of anyone coming after the identity thief.
In situations like this time is of the essence. Many times the first indications of an identity theft will be from a credit card company trying to verify a suspicious online charge that is being shipped somewhere local to you. This often happens when your credit card information has been stolen by a waiter or a pizza delivery driver. This is the time to act. In situations such as these our investigators know how to create a traceable mock delivery to find who is using your information before it gets sold online internationally as well as various other methods to solve your case.
Don’t wait. If you believe your information has been stolen, contact us today at 972-617-9210 for a free consultation with an investigator. There is no charge, and all matters are kept completely confidential.
