Coping with identity theft

Stacy McAnulty has been pretty much on a cash diet since her identity was stolen back in May around Memorial Day weekend.

She and her husband, who live in Kernersville, got a call from Edward Jones, their financial adviser, on May 26, asking if they had tried to buy $400 worth of tires that day in Mexico. Employees at Edward Jones let a $9 charge go through but denied the tire purchase, she said.

"At first it was kind of funny," McAnulty said. "Edward Jones did a really good job as far as calling us and taking care of it all right away. I put on Facebook: 'Looks like our debit card went to Mexico without us. I'm jealous.'"

Identity theft is a crime in which someone's personal information such as a name, Social Security number or credit card number, is used to commit fraud.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that about 9 million Americans have their identities stolen a year. Sometimes victims don't find out about the crime until well after the fact.

The Better Business Bureau of Northwest North Carolina gets calls about identity theft all the time, said David Dalyrmple, the bureau's president and chief executive.

Fraud is more prolific than it was in the past because more people accept and use credit cards, he said.

"Restaurants that I used to go to that were always 'cash only' now are taking debit cards," Dalrymple said.

He suggested that people use credit cards rather than debit cards for purchases because more protection comes with the credit forms of plastic.

"If anything fraudulent were to happen, you are not going to be held liable if you address it quickly," he said. "The credit card companies will cover you. With the debit card, it's not there. It's like money taken out of your account."

Identity theft can have long-term effects on victims who are unaware that fraud has occurred, depending on the severity of the crime.

Dalrymple said that this type of fraud can hurt people's credit ratings, if someone opens a credit account in the victim's name then defaults on a loan, for example.

Victims could be turned down for a loan by a financial institution or credit card company the next time they apply for a loan. The same problem could occur when victims refinance their home or buy a new car — even apply for a job if a potential employer does credit checks.

"It's something that could certainly haunt you," Dalrymple said.

Finding the people who commit identity theft can be complicated because often the crime is outside the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, Dalrymple said.

Chief Deputy Brad Stanley of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said personnel in his office talked to McAnulty and gave her a report number that documented that she called and made them aware of what had happened. Then she was advised of ways to protect her financial interests and credit.

"Most of the time, your credit card companies or financial institutions require a law-enforcement report," Stanley said.

In McAnulty's case, unless proved otherwise, the fraud occurred in Mexico.

"We do not have a crime that happened in our area to investigate," Stanley said.

For the first seven months of this year, Forsyth County residents reported to the sheriff's office 168 reports of ID fraud that occurred outside the county. There were 207 reports in 2010 and 169 in 2009, Stanley said.

The number of incidents that occurred within the county to local residents were 27 in the first seven months of 2011, 70 in 2010 and 26 in 2009.

The same day McAnulty made a post about her debit card's trip to Mexico, a friend responded, "Yikes, found out today our credit card went to New York without us."

Four days later, on May 29, the McAnultys got a call from Chase, asking if they'd tried to buy merchandise with their credit card at a Walmart store in California.

Now, McAnulty knows of eight friends and acquaintances in Kernersville who had their identities stolen from Memorial Day weekend through June 12.

Her friend, Michelle Herzberger of Kernersville, said she has heard of about 20 people who have been victims.

Herzberger said people have their own theories about what happened but no one knows for sure.

Herzberger says she's glad she and her husband paid a few extra dollars for Chase's Fraud Protection service because the company called them May 28 to verify a $100 purchase at a Walmart in California that they didn't make.

"It was no question with Chase Visa because we have this protection service," Herzberger said. "They watch our purchases. They call us whenever we make an online purchase."

The couple told various local businesses in Kernersville what had happened. They asked the companies to notify them and the appropriate authorities if they heard of other victims of fraud.

"The only thing that was a headache is that we used this one particular card for all purchases online and in person," Herzberger said. "So there were numerous online companies that we had to notify, and that was a hassle."

McAnulty said she's still getting notices from companies, saying they have been unable to renew her monthly subscriptions via an automatic billing on her credit card. Chase canceled her old number and gave her a new one, she said, and she canceled her debit card.

She is less trusting these days, paying mostly by cash in Kernersville until she is sure the recent rash of identity thefts gets completely solved.

"I'm always kind of waiting for that next phone call to tell me something has happened again," McAnulty said.