Elmore Co. Investigators See Spike In Identity Theft
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Elmore County deputies say identity theft has become one of their biggest problems. They say it’s only getting worse as tax season gets started.
Identity theft is a crime many of us can fall victim to and sheriff’s deputies in Elmore County say they are seeing cases of identity theft spike. The problem they’re facing is so many of them go un-reported — but one man we spoke with says it’s not his first time he’s been a victim of this crime and hes doing something about it.
Frank Cartwright says he was one of the 94 people who reported identity theft in Elmore County last year.
And the stacks are piling up — investigators say this year, they’re getting between 3 and 5 identity theft reports a week. Cartwright says he’s back in that stack again after he received a notification from the IRS saying his tax refund had been rejected because someone else claimed his children.
“The ordeal of proving that your kids are truly yours and they’re not someone else’s is a hard situation,” Said Cartwright. “All the paperwork you’ve got to file, and then you have to sit back and wait and then you have to start thinking what if these criminals are using their information to open up credit cards and other things that could come back and haunt them later on down the road?”
“Sometimes it’s no monetary value at all, that they’re able to catch it in time, as far as a tax refund, so they’re able to stop it before any refunds are dispersed, I can think of a couple where you’re talking tens of thousands of dollars were taken,” Said Elmore County Investigator, Chris Ogden.
Ogden says those stealing identities are starting to generate their own W-2 forms. And if they’re not getting your information, they may be using someone who is dependent on you, like claiming a child.
Cartwright says the headaches that come with ID fraud resulted in an 18 week wait for him to get his tax returns. But this time he filed a report to press state charges against the person who did the crime.
“If people don’t file these reports and try to press charges, the criminals are just going to keep doing it as long as they can get away with it,” Said Cartwright.
Investigator Ogden says you’re less likely to have identity fraud this time of year by filing your taxes early because it’s almost a race between the actual person filing for their own taxes and the thief getting your information and filing your taxes before you do.
Investigators say most people are calling to get your information or even getting it fishing your information online. If you believe you’re a victim of identity theft, make sure you report it.
