Thursday, February 22, 2007 Older Editions

Stealing your identity: Andover Police see three cases a month

By Brian Messenger

Last week an Andover man had his tax return tampered with, according to police. Earlier this year an Andover woman received a bill for being treated at a hospital she never entered.

As more and more Americans turn to computers to complete everyday tasks, incidents of identity theft have become more commonplace. Numbers provided by the Andover Police indicate the trend is true on a local level, even though people are more aware of identity theft than ever before.

"I do think it's on the increase, definitely," said Andover Police Lt. Jim Hashem. "Anybody is a potential victim. These types of people, they prey on you any way."

Since the department adopted a specific code for identity theft or identity fraud around mid-2003, reported incidents have risen from just 15 in 2004 to 35 in 2006. Thus far in 2007, six cases of identity theft have been filed with the APD, according to its records department. That averages out to about three cases a month since the start of 2006.

But genuine incidents of identity fraud or theft, and the numbers in police records they represent, are hard to pin down precisely, according to Hashem. Some instances of identity theft or fraud might be recorded as another crime, such as a routine theft.

On Feb. 8 a student at the Greater Lawrence Technical School had his credit card stolen from his locker, and his credit-card company later informed him that hundreds of dollars in items had been purchased out of state, said Hashem. This was recorded as identity fraud.

"A lot of it had to do with coding. Before we would have coded it as larceny," said the lieutenant in reference to the GLTS student's case. "It's very hard for us to codify these crimes because they could fall into a number of categories."

"Nobody actually stole his identity. They've stolen his credit card. It's a little different than stealing your social security number and creating a false identity," he said. "Identity theft or identity fraud is a very broad term. It can encompass almost anything."

"I think people are reporting it more. We're using the code more, whereas before [2003] we just lumped it under fraud," said APD Records Supervisor Lesley Hewett. "As things become more problematic, we create codes for them."

In regards to the numbers provided by the department, Hashem said, "What we're probably seeing is an increase in the classification 'identity fraud.'"

But Hashem acknowledged identity theft has been an increasing concern for his department. A member of the department gives periodic talks about identity theft and fraud at the Andover Senior Center.

"There's a lot of different schemes out there that fall under identity fraud. And one of the biggest problems for us is jurisdiction," he said. "It becomes a very involved kind of investigation."

While a stolen credit card is larceny, once a victim is reimbursed by his company the issue becomes harder to resolve if the culprit is beyond Andover's borders, he said.

"The stealing of the money," said Hashem, "the question is, who has jurisdiction over that? It really becomes a really difficult issue for us."

Hashem said identity thieves have a wide variety of methods, including stealing PIN numbers, checks or credit cards, or taking personal information through an insecure Web site. Many use e-mails or phone calls that appear to be from a trusted source.

"The schemes are almost endless. They're very creative. I don't think they target any one group, though some are more vulnerable. Anybody can be a victim of identity theft," he said.

"Ten years ago, if you wanted to make a purchase you had to walk to a store and physically hand over your credit card," he said. "(Now) the information is much easier to gain, you don't have that face to face. As the purchases have been easier to make, so has the theft of that property."