Living the nightmare of identity theft

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 17, 2006 | by Simon Read, STAFF WRITER

DUBLIN -- For Audra Schmierer, it began last January with a letter from the Internal Revenue Service claiming she owed $15,000 in back taxes on income earned in 2003.

Schmierer, 32, thought a mistake had been made. She had not worked since giving birth to her son in 2000. The next day, however, another letter arrived from the IRS -- this one stating she owed more than $32,000 in back taxes from 2002.

And so began a long nightmare that eventually saw the IRS accusing Schmierer of owing $1 million in back taxes on income she never earned.

Schmierer was the victim of identity theft. An illegal immigrant in Fort Worth, Texas, had managed -- through means that remain unknown -- to hijack her Social Security number and use it to obtain employment as a steelworker. The number was circulated among other illegal immigrants, who used it to land various jobs.

"The IRS had me employed with six different companies in Texas," said Schmierer. "It was so overwhelming, I couldn't be frustrated -- I was just completely beyond that."

Schmierer and her husband -- an assistant vice president with JP Morgan -- found their bank accounts frozen. A simple trip to Safeway to buy groceries became an ordeal.

"We didn't have access to our own money," she said. "We had to ask our parents for loans just so we could buy the necessities."

Schmierer said the experience was akin to being trapped in a prison cell.

"We went to Alcatraz on a family trip," she said. "They put you in a cell so you can see what it feels like. ... We were in there, and my husband started laughing. He said, 'This is what it's like.' And it's true, you feel like you're imprisoned."

Federal authorities warned her not to leave the country, she said. Accompanying her husband on a trip to Mexico, she found herself detained by the U.S. Department of Customs for nearly four hours upon her return to the United States.

She spent 40 hours a week on the telephone, being bounced between the IRS and the Social Security Administration, she said. Multiple 12-hour days were spent at the Social Security office in Hayward, she said.

"I'd go there to try and sort things out," she said. "But I couldn't get anything done because I couldn't prove I was who I said I was."

She spent hours on the Internet, sending e-mails and posting messages on blogs, desperate to find anyone who might be able to help. In the end, however, it was Schmierer's own perseverance that yielded results.

Last week -- after nearly a year -- the IRS sent her a letter saying she did not owe them back taxes. Her Social Security number, however, is still being used illegally.

"After all I went through, I'd like something more than a letter," she said. "Because of the Social Security issue, I'm not able to buy a house. Applying for a job would also cause problems."

According to the state's Office of Privacy Protection -- part of the Department of Consumer Affairs -- identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country.

Statistics collected by the Federal Trade Commission estimate one in 20 adults -- roughly 12 million Americans -- have fallen victim to the crime.

Livermore police Detective Tod Lohmeyer has been investigating identity theft for three years. In a city where most people cite traffic as their primary concern, Lohmeyer said identity theft is given little thought.

"When the crime is ID theft, it's not as personal," he said. "There's no body with a chalk outline around it. When your car or home is broken into, there's a very personal element to it."

Lohmeyer said people should give more thought to protecting themselves. "The repercussions can last years," he said.

Investigating the hijacking of one's credit card and bank accounts is a challenging task of "connecting the dots," he said.

"You're going from one place to the next trying to piece the thing together," Lohmeyer said.

Unlike other crime victims, victims of identity theft -- the companies who end up burdened with the costs of fraudulent purchases -- are not always cooperative with investigators.

"If you were a personal victim, you would give everything to the police to help them out," Lohmeyer said. "But when you're dealing with a bank, or Target, or Home Depot, you have to contact them continuously to try and get information."

Some thieves employ particularly devious methods to thwart investigators.

"We sometimes find suspects taking a stolen check number and attaching it to another person's name," Harnish said. "The account number belongs to Victim A and the name belongs to Victim B, so you end up chasing victims instead of the suspect."

Harnish said one simple way to protect yourself from thieves stealing your personal information is to shred everything. Also, "We still have a lot of residents who put outgoing bills in their mailbox," he said. "That raised red flag on your mailbox is a signal to thieves. You should drop everything off at the post office."