Seattle Washington:

This week schemes to obtain information and to steal identities took a new and very high-tech twist in the city of Seattle.  A woman, who shall be named only as Kathy, received a phone call from an individual claiming to be from one of the national credit reporting agencies.  In today's world, Kathy, just as all of us are trained to be, was suspicious of the caller and began to request information to verify her identity.  The young woman making the call was very courteous, and promptly complied with Kathy's request for information.  She had detailed information on Kathy's bank, credit cards, and even the first half of her Social Security number.  The young woman was quick to explain that her call was about several usual purchases on Kathy's Credit account.  These purchases allegedly included a trip to Paris by first-class air fare, and several other luxury purchases on her credit cards.  After the disclosure of all the credit information, Kathy let down her guard, and began to discuss the situation in earnest with the caller.  It was during this period of time, the young woman indicated that she would need to verify Kathy's identity by having her give the last half of your Social Security number before she could proceed to discuss matters with her further.  Kathy complied.  The young woman thanked her, and continued to discuss the alleged credit problem with Kathy.  After five minutes of discussion, Kathy received another phone call and stopped to take it.  It was from one of the department stores where Kathy had an account.  Over the last several minutes there had been several large and unusual purchases being made on her account, and they were just checking because of the unusual size of the purchases.  (Sometimes we do have to be thankful for bureaucrats, something that I never thought I would say in my lifetime.) Kathy explained that she could not have made the purchases, because she was, and had been on the phone to a credit reporting agency about other illegal purchases being made on her account for the lase fifteen minutes.  As Kathy explained what was happening, the person from the department store informed her that these purchases were made just a few moments ago and included her Social Security number.  She warned Kathy that the call from the credit reporting agency was probably not legitimate, and that she should terminate the conversation immediately.  Kathy did. 

As in my case, which was posted on my blog just a few days ago, but for the timely intervention of fate in the form of a nosey bureaucrat, in Kathy's case in the guise of a department store bureaucrat, she would have been obligated for a substantial debt without recourse.  In both of these cases, fate was on the side of the innocent, something we cannot count on in today's world.  The more I hear about identity theft, and the possible legal complications that come with such activity, the more concerned I am.  We all need to take measures to be sure that our personal, medical, and financial information is being safeguarded and protected.  The situation with Kathy was one of a dozen such situations described in local newscasts in the Seattle area over the past week.  It almost begins to appear as if the honest, taxpaying, and law-abiding public are under siege from these individuals.  It makes me almost believe that I have awakened in the twilight Zone.  I have been engaged in some research on this issue, which you were certainly welcome to peruse at the following web site:

www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/arthur37