Identity theft a growing problem; employees can be culprits

Somebody might want to be you. And that's not necessarily a compliment.

With just a few pieces of information -- a Social Security number, credit card or bank account numbers or even only your birth date -- a thief can ruin your finances, put you out of business or possibly get you arrested.

Up to 9 million people in the United States may be victimized by identity bandits each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Identity theft has become the number one reason for consumer complaints, costing the average consumer $1,000 to clear his or her name.

T. Robin Cole is president of the Rite Group, an office and technology business in Cape Girardeau. He said what used to be a little problem is now a big one. He cautions business owners to be aware that identity theft can be committed by employees.

"Every business owner can do a risk assessment and ask themselves what information they should keep about their customers," Cole said. "What you have to do is put a corral around proprietary information to keep out people who don't have a need to know."

Cole said unauthorized access by disgruntled employees to information stored in data bases is an exposure all business owners have.

"We need to treat employees with trust and respect so they are not motivated to take inappropriate action, but we also must take steps to make access difficult -- just in case," he said.

Jason Selzer, a public information officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said that from Jan. 1, 2005 to April 1, 2006, there were 31 reports of identity theft. He said some cases are solved, others aren't.

At the Jackson Police Department, Lt. Chris Mouser said 27 cases of fraud-type incidents including identity theft were reported from Sept. 1, 2005 to April 1, 2006.

Cole said businesses can reduce the risk of identity theft by assigning customers random numbers instead of using Social Security numbers.

"It works just fine. Those numbers become unique within your data system, and you know who is assigned what number. It makes theft more difficult," he said.

Tom Kelsey, a commercial real estate broker with Lorimont Place Ltd. in Cape Girardeau, said there are two document shredders in his office that are used daily. He said in the real estate business there are many sensitive pieces of information such as contracts, leases, financial information and proposals.

"We don't put anything sensitive into dumpsters, although the shredded material does eventually go into dumpsters," said Kelsey. "But we use a cross-cut shredder that cuts left and right and up and down. It turns paper into piles of little blocks."

Mike Griffin owns Shred Plus in Cape Girardeau. He has two mobile, industrial-strength shredders and a client base that stretches south to Arkansas and north to St. Louis. He said there are laws prohibiting businesses from casually discarding confidential information. He said regulations are especially tight concerning medical and bank records.

"I get more business all the time," said Griffin. "This is a growth industry. Hospitals and banks are really protecting the consumer better." Griffin said the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 calls for civil and criminal penalties for noncompliance as relates to health-care providers and patients' rights to privacy.

"We're definitely involved in the privacy of medical records," he said, adding his business is also used by law firms, newspapers, convenience stores, trucking outfits, accounting firms, builder supply companies, nursing homes and individuals. "Any information that's proprietary, we'll destroy it or we can store it in a climate-controlled facility. It's information management and security."

Pam Clark-Blackburn, the senior receptionist at George Medical Offices in Cape Girardeau, said medical documents are shred daily in-house.

"As people come through and we see we don't need the records, medical cards or CDs anymore, we shred them on the spot. Immediately," she said.

Clark-Blackburn said many people don't realize that HIPAA, the medical privacy act, does not require health-care providers remove labels from empty prescription bottles. She said patients often ask office personnel to throw away their bottles.

"We tell them we'll throw them away, but they'll end up in a Dumpster where Dumpster divers can find them and sometimes renew prescriptions under their name," she said. "So we tell them to remove the labels to protect themselves."

Charlotte Unterreiner, the comptroller and security officer at Capaha Bank in Cape Girardeau, said she receives reports of identity theft several times a year. She said people will come to the bank distressed, explain their problem and ask for help. Unterreiner said she advises them to contact the three main credit bureaus -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion -- and report the crime.

"Also, now people can go to the Federal Trade Commission Web site and access a check list of things they would need to get the process started to fix the problem," she said.

Unterreiner said she advises people to be wary of merchants who offer "over the counter" credit for products, because that usually requires giving personal information that could be misused.