----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Sims" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: FYI: ID theft ring hits 50 banks, security firm says
Why when you go to Circuit City or BestBuy do they ask you for your Zip
code or
phone number when they have it displayed right their on the CRT? Are they
blind,
incompetent or just plain lazy to see it for themselves?
Radio Shack asks me similar questions. I am trying to remember how they know
who I am in order to pull up my information on their computer. If you are
using a credit card they should cross examine you with questions that only
the owner of the credit card would know the answer to. After all, you are
standing face to face with the clerk and nobody compares signatures anymore.
The truth of the matter is very few compared signatures in the beginning
when they first appeared on the back of credit cards.
My point here is there are many ways they can stop the majority of identity
theft. I can not imagine any reputable lending institution opening up a
credit card account or setting up a home mortgage without the applicant
being required to provide far more information than an identity thief would
have.
It could be as simple as this. Credit card company calls your employer who
is asked to ask you if you applied for the credit (no amount or details, of
course). If you answer "No" the credit card company simply calls the
applicant to come in to sign some papers. Once the identity thief arrives
the police are waiting on them. If the true owner of the Social Security
Number arrives, the police investigate and then release them and write it
off as a false alarm. Best to be safe than sorry.
Identity theft is a preventable occurrence, just as a drunk driving
collision is preventable. Few lending institutions want to give attention to
detail. After all, who wants to deal with a lender who makes you jump
through hoops when the lender down the street streamlines the application
process?
Chuck
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