The Federal Trade Commission ranks Colorado the fifth highest state for identity theft in its 2004 Identity Theft Victim Complaint Data. Colorado had a total of 4,409 identity theft victims out of more than 246,570 locations.”Identity theft is a very significant problem,” said Dan Bradley, the senior supervisor FBI agent for Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Durango. “I think it is a significant problem on a national basis. I question the numbers here, though.”Bradley said such high numbers make him skeptical that identity theft numbers are as high as the FTC is reporting due to how and where most people are likely to report a crime of this nature. “I’m not sure if you would not have more significant reporting in areas where individuals, such as myself, are going out and doing speeches on a regular basis and talking to reporters on a regular basis and telling people that the first point of contact should be the Federal Trade Commission,” said Bradley. He said that a number as high as that reported for Colorado Springs indicates that there is an educated populace who knows to contact the FTC, compared to other locations where the populace may not be receiving the same information.Bradley further explained that most people don’t think to contact the FTC first, but rather one of the credit bureaus. “So if I were seeing numbers similar to this, ranking Colorado fifth, coming from the credit bureau,” he said, “I would take those numbers much more seriously than I would take these numbers. I would be shocked to find out we are fifth.”There are three major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Most people will refer to one or all of these when reporting an identity theft or simply retrieving their personal credit reports. According to the Equifax Web site, the states with the highest incidence of identity theft are California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Illinois and Washington.Bradley did agree on some of the other statistics provided by the FTC. In a map of the United States, the FTC noted that less populated or more rural states, such as Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and North and South Dakota, reported fewer identity crimes. “You made a comment about rural areas not being as impacted,” he said. “I think there is some truth to that. When you look at the northwest part of the states, they are in yellow (yellow represents states that reported less than 50 victims per 100,000 population); there is a reason for that.” The reason could be that there are simply less commercial activities in rural areas compared to metropolitan areas.”Take individuals that reside in more rural areas, they involve themselves less frequently in those situations,” Bradley said. “Frankly, for the most part the people they deal with at the video store or at the grocery store or at other businesses are individuals that they grew up with, went to school with.” People in more rural settings live in a more tight-knit community, he said.Falcon and Calhan reported two identify thefts each so far this year to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department. “Falcon and Calhan both had two; that was the lowest number of cases in that area,” said Lieutenant Clif Northam, public information officer for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department. “Also, the Ute Pass area had two.”Northam said one case was a check forgery case and the other dealt with counterfeit money. “So I don’t have a lot of that type of crime in the Falcon area compared to other areas in the county.” However, Northam and Bradley both give the same advice – just because there are less reports of this happening in rural areas, this is no reason for people to let their guard down.Northam said to be careful when doing business online, paying bills over the telephone or leaving mail in mailboxes, as these activities make people vulnerable to identify theft crimes. Bradley agreed that a person doesn’t need be paranoid, but it’s wise to take precautions. “You should be asking yourself, ‘why does somebody need my Social Security number?'” he said. “If I go to Blockbuster, and Blockbuster tells me ‘I need you to fill out all of this information, including my Social Security number,’ ask them, ‘Why do you need my Social Security number?'” Bradley said when asked, most places will say it is not necessary, and if it is, that’s when the customer must make a decision of whether they really want to take a chance at the place of business or go elsewhere.Most experts and resources list giving out a Social Security number as the biggest mistake when it comes to identity theft. Equifax gives several other tips on “How to Outsmart Identity Thieves,” as well as tips on what to do if you do become a victim of identity theft, and important contact information. For this information and more, visit www.equifax.com. Click on the “Learning” tab and go to “Identity Theft and Fraud.”
