Last modified: Sunday, April 18, 2004 1:03 AM EDT ID theft a growing problem BY JOHN WINTERS / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Paul Richards got a call from Visa last month. His payment wasn't late. Nor was the company calling to offer him a reduced interest rate. The person on the line wanted to know if the Attleboro resident had been to Italy earlier that day on a mad shopping spree. He hadn't. Someone else, using Richards' identity and credit, was having quite a time. `` I told them of course I hadn't been shopping in Italy, and I asked how much was involved,'' said Richards, who asked that his real name not be used. The Visa representative told him there were two charges, $2,100 and $1,900. Richards, had become another in a long line of victims of identity fraud, one of the fastest growing illicit industries in the world. `` The significance or magnitude of identity theft is at epidemic proportions,'' said Carl Pergola, national director of FIRSTGlobal Investigations, a division of BDO Seidman of New York City. He estimates that 10 million people a year are victims of identity fraud. The problem has certainly caught the attention of federal and state authorities. Just this past week, the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office released a consumer advisory regarding new rights for victims of identity theft that help prevent the problem from becoming a vicious cycle that cleans them out entirely. Identity theft at one time sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. Simply put, it's a term for crimes that occur when someone gets your credit information or Social Security number, and goes to town. Or to Italy. North Attleboro police say they've seeing more identity theft. `` It's out there, and we get quite a bit because of Route 1,'' said Lt. David Dawes. `` It's growing. With the information out on the Internet, it's amazing what people can do.'' BJ's Wholesale Club recently had a high-profile problem when the company's computer system was hacked into and hundreds of people's credit information was accessed. The company said only a small fraction of its members' information was stolen, but the incident is an example of how criminals continue to find new ways to subvert the system. The Boston Herald quoted BJ's vice president of loss prevention as saying credit card theft was the fastest growing crime in America. The Federal Trade Commission recently warned of a new scam called `` phishing.'' It's when consumers receive a fraudulent e-mail that appears to come from America Online or Paypal, Ebay's online payment system, that bears the correct company logos and looks official. The e-mail asks consumer to update their credit information or face having the account canceled. Since the e-mail is from an illegitimate source, the credit and personal information is then used to wreak financial havoc. While most Americans now know enough to be careful with their personal information -- such as shredding credit card bills and other personal papers before tossing them out -- that only means criminals are forced to ratchet up their efforts. `` I think what's happening now is that while consumers are becoming more educated, the means to obtain that information is becoming more sophisticated,'' Pergola said. `` Because the information is available electronically, it's hard to prevent this.'' Identity theft isn't a new phenomenon. Before the world went electronic, criminally minded store clerks could easily make use of a customer's credit card information, or pass it on to someone else who did the bilking. When credit card charges were done manually, the carbon paper that facilitated the transaction was often discarded carelessly, making it easy for some garbage-picking fraud to have a field day. Of course, thieves sometimes take the most direct route and just grab a wallet or pocketbook and get the cards that way. The latest incarnation of identity theft happens in a number of ways. Once a criminal has some of your Social Security number, date of birth and a few other personal tidbits, he or she can use it to charge items or empty a bank account. Often that leads to the other part of the scam, where the personal information is used to create new lines of credit ripe for the scamming, in what becomes a viscous cycle. The new federal law that the state attorney general's office is now publicizing went into effect on March 31. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (a.k.a. The FACT ACT) offers enhanced protection for victims of identity theft in many ways. It allows victims, or those who reasonably believe they may have been victimized, to call just one of the three credit bureaus to place a 90-day fraud alert on their files, meaning the consumer must be notified whenever someone applies for credit in his or her name. The law also allows for consumers to request an extended alert be put on their credit file, has special provisions for military personnel on active duty and mandates the businesses who have engaged in a transaction with an identity thief to provide information about the incident to the consumer and authorities. Full details of the FACT ACT are available on the attorney general's Web site at www.ago.state.ma.us. The credit bureaus also provide protection. Equifax offers Credit Watch Gold that for about $100 a year will notify a consumer whenever someone applies for credit in his or her name. The company offers a free 30-day trial on its Web site, www.equifax.com. `` Now you know when someone is trying to tap into your credit, as opposed to waiting for a bill to come in the mail that isn't yours,'' said David Rubinger, vice president of communications. `` It's a great form of insurance.'' The sad fact is identity theft is here to stay, and there's only so much consumers can do to protect themselves, Pergola said. `` The most difficult part of this is there's not much more consumers can do, other than be careful with their own information, monitor things, and know who they're dealing with,'' he said. `` You will always have this stuff occurring. I really don't see an end in sight.'' And even though consumers are typically not held directly responsible for bills run up by credit crooks -- although it can result in a bad credit rating that's difficult to repair -- the impact of being taken can still be large in other ways. As Paul Richards said after his recent mix up with identity thieves, `` You start to mistrust everything.'' JOHN WINTERS can be reached at 508-236-0434 or at jwinters@thesunchronicle.com.