REGION'S CRIME OF CENTURY ID-THEFT CASES SOAR AFTER 1990S.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

Identity theft in Los Angeles County soared to more than 25,000 cases last year and is on pace to surge even more this year as one of the region's fastest-growing crimes, officials said Wednesday.

The volume has overwhelmed investigators, who say they can investigate only about 10 percent of the cases.

``The size of our task force is not large enough to handle the volume of cases,'' said sheriff's Lt. Ron Williams, who leads multiagency Southern California task forces on high-tech crimes and identity theft.

``Criminals are trading in their guns for computers and cell phones so they can commit identity theft. It's what we call a high-yield, low-risk crime.

``Identity thieves can make a lot of money, but their odds of getting caught are relatively small because of the volume of cases.''

Teresa Schilling, spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office, said investigative resources statewide are being taxed by the skyrocketing number of cases.

``What a lot of law enforcement officials are saying is that they have a threshold of $2,000 in losses before they investigate,'' Schilling said. ``A lot of thieves know that. They will take someone's credit card information, charge under $2,000, then take out another credit card and charge under $2,000, so they never get caught.''

The Sheriff's Department alone received 6,132 reports of identity theft last year, up nearly tenfold from just 645 reports in 1999. Department officials expect 6,144 reports this year.

Caseload soars

The ID-theft caseload in the District Attorney's Office has skyrocketed from zero in 1997 to 1,515 cases last year.

To handle the growing volume, the Sheriff's Department's Identity Theft Task Force has 39 personnel from 11 federal, state and local agencies in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Four prosecutors from the High Tech Crime Unit in the District Attorney's Office support the sheriff's task force. However, only one prosecutor is assigned to work exclusively on ID-theft cases.

In the past six months, the unit has prosecuted 270 people for ID theft, computer crimes and related fraud. But despite extensive overtime, all of the unit's prosecutors have case overloads, officials said.

Thirty complex cases are in a backlog ready for filing, and the backlog has meant that the average time between case review and filing of criminal charges is almost a year.

Nationwide, the number of ID-theft complaints rose from 215,177 in 2003 to 255,565 last year, including 45,175 victims in California, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Alarmed by the trend, Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke plans to ask her colleagues to allocate an additional $1 million to hire more investigators and prosecutors for the effort.

``We want to get the message out to residents of the county that ID theft is a very serious and growing crime and that the Board of Supervisors is taking this seriously,'' said Gerardo Pinedo, a deputy to Burke.

Burke herself was a victim of identity theft several years ago when someone bought a Mercedes-Benz in Beverly Hills using personal information from her husband and her.

Huge cost

Experts estimate identity theft costs businesses and consumers more than $50 billion a year nationwide as thieves fraudulently use others' personal information -- such as Social Security and driver's license numbers -- to obtain everything from credit cards to goods and services.

Experts said the most common type of ID theft is credit card fraud, which accounts for more than 65 percent of all cases. But thieves also have used victims' identities to obtain everything from public benefits and jobs to real estate and automobiles.

Last year in Los Angeles County, 25,314 cases of ID theft were reported, according to recent data from county Department of Consumer Affairs Director Pastor Herrera Jr.

``The resources currently allocated to county agencies are inadequate to respond effectively to this harmful and fast-growing crime,'' Herrera wrote.

Under Burke's proposal, the District Attorney's Office would get more prosecutors, the Sheriff's Department would get more deputies, and Herrera would get more investigators.

In a report, Herrera wrote that new trends in ID theft involve the use of skimmers, encoders and other technology.

And Herrera noted that ID thieves are collecting large amounts of data from many people and then keeping the information for months or years before using it.

``ID thieves are getting smart,'' Williams said. ``They realize that if they steal the information and use it immediately, the victim may have been aware of the theft and already notified their credit card companies and asked the credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on their files.

``By waiting months, if not years, they can wait for the individual to go back to business as usual.''

Victims' relief

Herrera noted that current state and federal laws provide victims some relief. For example, victims who file police reports can remove false credit information from their credit reports, block the issuance of credit by asking credit bureaus to freeze credit on their files and limit the use of their information in preapproved credit offers.

``If the victim makes a police report and notifies the credit-reporting agency, the victim has a defense against any legal action taken and even gains a right of action against any company that issues credit without checking the fraud alert,'' Herrera wrote.

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

PROTECT AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT:

Shred bank and credit card statements before discarding them.

Carefully review your credit card and bank statements and dispute unrecognized charges.

California law allows residents a free annual credit report. Review yours.

Collect your mail right away and don't leave outgoing payments in your mailbox. Thieves can take your mail -- and your financial information with it.

Guard your Social Security number. Don't carry it in your wallet and be cautious about giving it out.

Don't leave ATM, credit card or gas station receipts behind.

Keep an eye on your credit cards.

Get off telemarketing lists. Put your name on the National Do Not Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov.

Don't give out personal financial information over the phone.

For more information or to file an identity-theft complaint, contact the county Department of Consumer Affairs at [phone].

Source: Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs

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PROTECT AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT (see text)