Serene Karplus, Nederland.  We travel light in summer, grabbing just the driver’s license and a credit card in a pocket or tiny purse, leaving the bulky wallet behind. Then, one day, they are missing. Not sure where and how we lost them, we replace them and move on. Or we decide we’ll skip the post office and run in favor of getting to the hike on time. And then decide to mail our bills through our own rural mailbox, put the flag arm up, and get on the road.

Both of these scenarios may set us up for the one of the costliest top consumer complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission for the past 16 years: Identity Theft. Victims of identity theft spend months or years – and thousands of dollars – cleaning up the mess. A good credit rating and reputation can be destroyed in an instant, causing lost job opportunities, refused loans for homes, cars, or education, or even arrest for crimes not committed.

Identity theft comes in many forms. Many of us immediately think of financial accounts and freeze credit cards and accounts if a wallet is stolen. For the most part, reporting thefts promptly to banks reduces losses and may restore stolen funds. Such transactions are fairly easy to resolve. A stolen checkbook can be a nightmare, though, as even on the closed account, a thief may write fraudulent checks for years and the person in trouble with the law for writing bad checks is the old account owner.

A stolen Social Security number can haunt us for years. A local couple we know discovered that someone had fraudulently taken out a second (large) mortgage on their home, encumbering the property and leaving them liable for repayment. The trouble cost many months and thousands in legal fees to resolve. Another older adult was audited by the IRS because her tax return showing her single social security payment failed to show multiple employer reports. It turned out that 80 people were using her social security number to appear legal for employment here. Social Security numbers sell on the black market for as little as $15.

A missing driver’s license can cause endless worries, too. A dishonest clerk of a mortgage company copied a license at a closing and changed her hair to look like the homeowner’s photo, then became an impostor of that unsuspecting customer. Another thief bought and registered a vehicle in the name of a stolen driver’s license and then used the vehicle in a shooting death crime, leaving the originally named person to prove they had no knowledge of the vehicle or impostor.

Another common form of ID theft is medical. Due to high medical expenses, a stolen identity benefits the thief by sending hospital bills to the real person. One local man started receiving bills for a surgery he had never had, and it took him months to prove it was not him. The thief may also use up all of the victim’s annual insurance or Medicare allotment for prescription drugs or acquire drugs for sale on the street. Medical identity theft is doubly tricky to unravel if the thief dies and the death is recorded as the original person.

In addition to basic wallet or home theft, thieves may obtain identity information by lifting records from their employer, stealing mail with bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks, and tax information, rummaging through trash (private, business or public trash) for information, posing as a landlord to obtain credit report data, skimming data from cards swiped in public places, or phishing calls and emails posing as a known entity trying to “resolve a problem” with an account.

******

All ages of adults are welcome at all events, attended mostly by folks over age 50. Sign up for all meals and events at 303-258-0799 or Meetup.com/Mountain-MidLife-Social-Group or by email at NederlandAreaSeniors@gmail.com. Meals are served at the Nederland Community Center. Please call two days ahead for lunch reservations (more for dinners and breakfasts if possible). Missed the deadline? Call anyway. Costs listed show first the over-age-60 requested anonymous contribution, then the under-age-60 price. Please note that all over age 60 are welcome at meals regardless of ability to contribute financially.