Local residents feel sting of financial fraud

Financial Identity theft is not a new problem in the Faulkner County area, but one that continues to plague several residents.

Despite being careful, some people find, usually much too late, that someone has obtained their bank account, driver's license and credit card numbers to make purchases.

One Conway resident, called "Charles" as his case is still under investigation, recently found himself to be a victim of fraud.

Charles said he checks his credit card balance every week, even though he says he rarely used his card. "I was checking my credit card statement I get online statements and knew what my financial balance should be. I keep a pretty close eye on it. All of a sudden, I was over the limit, which is something that I don't ever do and I saw three charges on there. Each charge was for the same amount ... and I didn't recognize who it was charged to, the company name was printed on the statement," he said.

Charles said he contacted the credit card company to report the fraudulent charges. And after confirming that no one else had access to or was authorized to use the card, he was directed to fill out a statement claiming that fraudulent charges had been made on his account so that the purchases will be suspended, meaning "they are not counting against me and I'm not paying interest on them until they are resolved," Charles said.

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He also contacted the Arkansas Attorney General's office. "I gave the person there all of those details and they seemed to be a little more quick to investigate than the credit card company. They discovered what the charges were made for," Charles said. "I was able to link what information (Paypal) gave me back to a transaction I had made at a local tool rental place. I was very concerned because the person had my home address and I don't usually give that out with any transactions, but when you rent a tool or something, they ask for a driver's license. So the person at the counter apparently had copied my credit card number and had the information from my driver's license because they photo copy it."

From this point, the suspect had everything he needed to begin making charges.

After finding a suspect in the theft, Charles contacted the Conway Police Department, where he filed an incident report. The case is still under investigation and no arrests have been made.

Chris Mitchell, a CPD detective who handles financial crimes, said while this case is not uncommon, most reports involve internet scams.

"Most of the time when you have identity theft, where a name and a social (security number) and a date of birth is used, it usually comes from what we call Nigerian scams," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said that he's investigating one case through his personal e-mail in which an unknown woman claims he is one of three people who has won the Coca-Cola lottery.

"Basically she has told me that she's going to send me my share of $47 million. I replied back to her and said 'Show me the money.' So she sends me an e-mail back and says, 'We'll need your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number and your bank account number." Mitchell replied by claiming he was an elderly gentlemen who doesn't use banks.

"So she's refusing to send me the money without an account number," Mitchell said. "If I was the winner of the Coca-Cola lottery, you'd think it generate from America, since it's a U.S. product."

Mitchell said that many times, people will go to the bank and open a new account to see if these scams will work.

"The problem with that is once you give out that information from a bank to an individual, you are no longer protected because that's supposed to be your personal information. With that information it's very easy for them to call a bank, pretend they are you, and get that account information. A lot of times, on your Nigerian scams, they want to send you like $3,000 but then they want you to wire back like $500. Well of course, when you wire the money back, that check takes about 7-10 days to clear and it's going to be a counterfeit check and you've lost $500. If you spend the rest of that money the other $2,500 then you're going to owe the bank $2,500."

Mitchell said there were also many mail scams, too.

"We probably get eight to 10 complaints a week from people being mailed checks, anywhere from $2,100 to $3,500 wanting people to deposit it and then wire them back $500-$600," Mitchell said, adding that $500-$600 is a lot of money when changed from American dollars to Nigerian currency.

"Once that money is wired out of the country Secret Service, the FBI nobody has jurisdiction over there," Mitchell said. Furthermore, Mitchell explained that the Nigerian government will not cooperate with American officials on these issues.

"So it's really hard to get a hold on it and it's really hard to track it once it leaves Conway," Mitchell said.

Above all else, use common sense. There's no such thing as free money," Mitchell said, adding that if someone didn't enter in a sweepstakes or lottery, then they didn't win any money.

Another way to protect your financial identity is to buy a paper shredder so people cannot use information from your trash to open accounts.

"That's the main thing, buy a $40 shredder. That's the cheapest way to save your name." Secondly, Mitchell said that post office boxes are the best way to receive mail "because anybody can drive-by and pull stuff out of your (mail)box."

Though checks are protected by the bank to some extent it can still be very expensive to clear your name, he added.

Also, "if you have any hint that there's any problem with your checks or you think you may be a victim of identity fraud. If it's a bank account you need to let your bank know immediately. That way you don't get a lot of hot checks issued on you that are really forgeries," Mitchell said.

"If you get someone else's name mailed to your address. That ought to be a clue that someone out there has your address," Mitchell said. People who open credit cards in other people's names, he explained, will find out the card's limit and max it out the card before the first payment is due so no one will notice a problem until the non-payment is reported to the credit bureau.

"Once it hits your credit report, you can't just file a police report and have that taken off. It goes against your credit score, and you can't build that back just because you've been a victim."

Also, Mitchell added, do not carry your Social Security card on your person, "it doesn't matter what happens to you. You're not going to get your numbers replaced."

Mitchell also suggested checking your credit report. Arkansans get one free credit report per year. Visit the Federal Trade Commission's Web site at www.ftc.gov and click on free credit reports.