Woman pleads guilty in 'total identity theft' case

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/illegal-immigrant-former-apd-officer-facing-1-year-prison

Illegal immigrant, former APD officer facing 1 year in prison

Patti Epler | Aug 18, 2011

Federal prosecutors are requesting a year in prison, three years of probation and a $250,000 fine for the man who worked as an Anchorage police officer the past eight years even though he is a Mexican national in this country illegally.

A sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in Alaska on Thursday calls Rafael Mora-Lopez "nearly unique" when it comes to the undocumented immigrants that come before the court. Almost all of the others have been deported multiple times, have aggravated felony convictions or numerous misdemeanors, and often have few job skills or little education, assistant U.S. attorney Thomas Bradley wrote in the 25-page memorandum.

"Most identity thieves themselves are felons and fugitives who steal an identity in order to hide from the law," Bradley said.

According to the memorandum, Mora-Lopez holds a degree in chemical engineering from a "prestigious" university in Mexico. He worked various jobs in Alaska, including as a bus driver with the Municipality of Anchorage and eventually became a police officer -- "a job that by all accounts he performed in an exemplary manner."

His fellow Anchorage police officers were rocked when it was discovered earlier this year that Mora-Lopez was in this country illegally. They've described him as an outstanding officer and good colleague who took protecting the citizens of Anchorage to heart. His illegal status came to light when he applied for renewal of the passport he had been using in someone else's name and the other man, Rafael Alberto Espinoza, had also recently applied for a new passport himself.

Mora-Lopez has committed no other crimes aside from those associated with illegally using the identity of a U.S. citizen. The memorandum lays those out in detail -- passport fraud dating back 20 years; false claim to U.S. citizenship that allowed him to get driver's licenses, Permanent Fund dividends, mortgages, even a bankruptcy filing; voter fraud; illegal possession of firearms including in his work as an Anchorage cop, and aggravated identity theft.

Mora-Lopez initially came to the U.S. under his real name on a temporary visa but stayed after it had expired. He assumed the identity of Espinoza, a man who, according to some news reports, the Mora-Lopezes knew in Mexico.

Over the years, Mora-Lopez, using the false identity, renewed the passport a couple of times without detection, and obtained naturalization for his wife. The couple had a daughter who was born here, bought a nice home in Anchorage, voted in many local, state and national elections, and "generally conducted himself as a lawful member of society."

"It was all a lie," Bradley wrote, suggesting that Mora-Lopez could have eventually obtained legal residency if he had had the patience to go through the immigration process.

As a police officer, "every time he raised his hand in court and swore to tell the truth he committed perjury. Every word of his former testimony is now subject to impeachment. Every case in which he testified is potentially in jeopardy," Bradley wrote. "How many guilty offenders may walk free based on challenges to his word, even if he was completely truthful beyond the threshold question: 'What is your name?'"

Mora-Lopez has pleaded guilty to the federal charges and has repaid $27,000 in Permanent Fund money. He has been released on bail and living in Anchorage.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 25 and the U.S. Attorney's Office is asking for a stiff financial penalty, although less time in prison than some of the offenses carry, ostensibly because Mora-Lopez likely will be deported. The penalty should be stiff enough to deter other white-collar illegal immigrants, but it doesn't necessarily need to protect the public safety because, in this case, Mora-Lopez doesn’t present a threat to public safety, the memorandum says.

A one-year jail term reflects the seriousness of the offense and a significant fine is "an appropriate economic penalty for economic crimes, and serves to partially take away this defendant's unjust enrichment from this twenty-year fraud," Bradley wrote.

seriously, if she gets in trouble for commenting IN RELATION to your OP..then there is some serious favoritism going on up in P&R.

Save it. Certain posters on here go out of there way to spam a topic with off topic post in order to accomplish nothing other than to either get a topic closed or divert from the original topic. This ####### didn't fly in P&R before and I doubt it's going to fly this time.

[decocker 7,198]

Save it. Certain posters on here go out of there way to spam a topic with off topic post in order to accomplish nothing other than to either get a topic closed or divert from the original topic. This ####### didn't fly in P&R before and I doubt it's going to fly this time.

i would save it, except her post wasn't off topic..she was commenting on identity theft. before i read her post, i posted a comment about a legal immigrant committing identity theft. so i hope you reported me too.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Save it. Certain posters on here go out of there way to spam a topic with off topic post in order to accomplish nothing other than to either get a topic closed or divert from the original topic. This ####### didn't fly in P&R before and I doubt it's going to fly this time.

My post was directly related to the topic you posted. It was one question about identity theft. That's it, that's all. The following temper tantrum has done more to derail this topic than my one related question ever could.

Anyway, report whatever you want. It's clear an actual discussion about identity theft isn't going to happen.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Evylin

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://www.cis.org/IdentityTheft

This Backgrounder examines illegal immigration-related document fraud and identity theft that is committed primarily for the purpose of employment. It debunks three common misconceptions: illegal aliens are “undocumented;” the transgressions committed by illegal aliens to obtain jobs are minor; and illegal-alien document fraud and identity theft are victimless crimes. It discusses how some community leaders rationalize these crimes, contributing to a deterioration of the respect for laws in our nation, and presents a variety of remedies, including more widespread electronic verification of work status (E-Verify and the Social Security Number Verification Service) and immigrant outreach programs to explain the ramifications and risks of document fraud and identity theft.

The findings include:

Illegal immigrants are not “undocumented.” They have fraudulent documents such as counterfeit Social Security cards, forged drivers licenses, fake “green cards,” and phony birth certificates. Experts suggest that approximately 75 percent of working-age illegal aliens use fraudulent Social Security cards to obtain employment.

Most (98 percent) Social Security number (SSN) thieves use their own names with stolen numbers. The federal E-Verify program, now mandated in only 14 states, can detect this fraud. Universal, mandatory use of E-Verify would curb this and stop virtually 100 percent of child identity theft.

Illegal immigration and high levels of identity theft go hand-in-hand. States with the most illegal immigration also have high levels of job-related identity theft. In Arizona, 33 percent or all identity theft is job-related (as opposed to identity theft motivated simply by profit). In Texas it is 27 percent; in New Mexico, 23 percent; in Colorado, 22 percent; California, 20 percent; and in Nevada, 16 percent. Eight of the 10 states with the highest percentage of illegal aliens in their total population are among the top 10 states in identity theft (Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, Nevada, New York, Georgia, and Colorado).

Children are prime targets. In Arizona, it is estimated that over one million children are victims of identity theft. In Utah, 1,626 companies were found to be paying wages to the SSNs of children on public assistance under the age of 13. These individuals suffer very real and very serious consequences in their lives.

Illegal aliens commit felonies in order to get jobs. Illegal aliens who use fraudulent documents, perjure themselves on I-9 forms, and commit identity theft in order to get jobs are committing serious offenses and are not “law abiding.”

Illegally employed aliens send billions of dollars annually to their home countries, rather than spending it in the United States and helping stimulate the American economy. In October 2008 alone, $2.4 billion was transferred to Mexico.

Tolerance of corruption erodes the rule of law. Corruption is a serious problem in most illegal aliens’ home countries. Allowing it to flourish here paves the way for additional criminal activity and increased corruption throughout society.

Leaders support perpetrators and ignore victims. Political, civic, religious, business, education, and media leaders blame Americans for “forcing” illegal aliens to commit document fraud and identity theft. No similar concern is expressed for the American men, women, and children whose lives are destroyed in the process.

The Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service facilitate illegal immigrant-driven identity theft. Both turn a blind eye to massive SSN fraud and take no action to stop it. The Social Security Administration assigns SSNs to new-born infants that are being used illegally. The IRS demands that victims pay taxes on wages earned by illegal aliens using their stolen SSNs, while taking no action to stop the identity theft.

State and local governments need to adopt tougher laws to supplement federal efforts. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is targeting large document fraud rings and the most egregious employers, but their resources are limited and stretched across multiple priorities. In 2007, identity theft cases represented only 7 percent of the total ICE case load.

Employers must do their part. They can ensure that they have a legal workforce by using a combination of the federal government’s E-Verify and Social Security Number Verification Service systems and by signing up for the federal government’s IMAGE program or privately conducted audits.

Misconceptions

That Illegal Aliens Are Undocumented

When Jean Pierre from Montreal crosses the border into the United States illegally, he lacks the documents to obtain employment and other benefits that legal residents of the United States are entitled to. When Maggie from Dublin and Raj from India overstay their tourist visas in order to work in the United States, they find themselves in the same situation.

Because it is virtually impossible to live and work in the United States without documents, they and millions of others turn to fraudulent document dealers for falsified Social Security cards, forged drivers licenses, counterfeit green cards, and a wide range of other phony documents.

According to Richard Hamp of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, illegal aliens rarely steal Americans’ total identities (a victim’s full name, date of birth, and SSN) simply because doing so is more difficult and expensive. Instead, illegal aliens commit SSN-only identity theft by obtaining fraudulent Social Security cards in their own names, often with random numbers made up by dealers. However, since about half of all SSNs have been issued, there is a 50-50 chance that the SSN already belongs to another person. And even if the number hasn’t been issued, the Social Security Administration may later assign it to an infant, thereby giving a newborn an instant credit history, arrest record, and liability for back taxes.

That Illegal Aliens Are Law-Abiding

Illegal aliens who commit document fraud, use SSNs that do not belong to them, and falsify I-9 forms under penalty of perjury clearly are not ordinary law-abiding residents. They may be arrested and prosecuted for felony document fraud and perjury and in, certain states, they may be prosecuted for felony identity theft or felony identity fraud.

So, while simply living in the country without authorization is usually a civil offense, a large number of illegal aliens rapidly take the next step and commit serious felonies in order to obtain jobs and other benefits reserved for American citizens and legal residents.

Identity Theft Defined. The non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center defines identity theft as “a crime in which an impostor obtains key pieces of personal identifying information (PII) such as SSNs and drivers license numbers and uses them for their own personal gain.” According the Federal Trade Commission, “Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, SSN, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes…. They may get a job using your Social Security number.”1

Therefore, the use of an SSN belonging to someone else, whether knowingly or unknowing, is clearly identity theft according to these definitions. In addition, the victims of illegal alien SSN identity theft suffer clear and extremely serious harm.

In spite of this, under federal and many state statutes, a person using someone else’s SSN or other personal information must “knowingly” do so in order to be convicted of felony identity theft. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors must prove that an illegal alien is knowingly using another person’s SSN in order to convict the illegal alien of identity theft under the federal statute, thereby, leaving the victims of these serious and often devastating crimes unprotected.

At the state level, Utah faced the problem of defense attorneys claiming that their illegal alien clients should get off because they were not knowingly using the SSNs of Utah children. Therefore, in 2006, in order to protect all American citizens and legal residents including tens of thousands of children, Utah’s identity fraud statute was amended to clearly state that it is not a defense to argue “that the person did not know that the personal information belonged to another person.”

Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, County Attorneys in Arizona expressed confidence that that state’s felony identity theft statute would withstand challenge and called on Congress to revise federal statutes to hold illegal aliens committing identity theft liable for their actions.2 Prosecutors in Kansas said that they would press legislators to revise identity theft statutes and it is anticipated that other states around the nation also will amend their statutes in order to protect their citizens from illegal alien-driven identity theft.3

The Relationship Between Identity Theft and Illegal Immigration. U.S. law enforcement agencies have observed that identity theft and immigration “go hand in hand.”4 In Weld County, Colo., which has large numbers of illegal aliens employed in the meat packing industry, District Attorney Ken Buck reports that the principal driver of identity theft is job related5

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States and impacts millions of American citizens and legal residents each year, though actual numbers are difficult to determine because most governments and police departments don’t track identity theft. Even the Federal Trade Commission, which is the lead agency for reporting identity theft, only captures a small number of actual identity theft cases.

But we know that illegal aliens routinely use fraudulent SSNs belonging to American citizens and legal residents. In a 2002 report to Congress, the General Accounting Office stated: “INS has reported that large-scale counterfeiting has made fraudulent employment eligibility documents (e.g., Social Security cards) widely available.”6 The Social Security Administration assumes that roughly three-quarters of illegal aliens are paying payroll taxes through withholding, which generally requires an SSN.7

For example, an immigration raid at an Agriprocessors, Inc., meat processing plant in Pottsville, Iowa, last year found that 76 percent of the plant’s employees had bogus SSNs.8 And during an April 2008 raid at Pilgrim’s Pride meat packing plants, more than 280 employees at facilities in five states were arrested on suspicion of committing identity theft and other criminal violations in order to obtain jobs.9 According to press reports, ICE agents said their investigation of Pilgrim’s Pride started when the victims of identity theft came forward after having problems with taxes and credit reports.10

Illegal aliens’ fraudulent document use was further confirmed by Domingo Garcia, General Counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), who, according to press reports, said that it was well known that around 80 percent of the workers at Pilgrim’s Pride had fake identification.11

So its no surprise that Table 1 shows that states with the highest percentage illegal aliens in their total populations tend to have the highest incidence of overall identity theft, including significant levels of employment-related identity theft.

Of the 10 states with the highest incidence of identity theft, eight are among the 10 states where illegal aliens account for the largest percentages of total population. The two remaining top-10 identity theft states are ranked 13 and 17 in terms of percentage of illegal aliens.

In 2008, 15 percent of all identity theft in the United States was employment-related, up from 14 percent in 2007.12 Six of the 10 states with the highest identity theft have employment-related identity theft rates that exceed the national average. In Arizona, where substantive illegal immigration-related legislation was passed and where employment verification is now required, employment-related identity theft dropped significantly, from 39 to 33 percent of all identity theft cases. In Colorado, employment-related identity theft increased from 17 to 22 percent between 2007 and 2008. In New Mexico, the increase was from 19 to 23 percent; in Texas, from 24 to 27 percent; and in California, from 17 to 20 percent.

ICE Efforts Are Improving. ICE is the lead agency addressing immigration-related document fraud and identity theft. In 2006, the agency established the Document and Benefits Fraud Task Forces (DBFTF), which are now in place in 17 ICE field offices. Their mission is to investigate and dismantle criminal organizations that make, sell, and distribute identity documents to circumvent immigration laws or for any other criminal purpose and to seize their equipment and assets. For example, ICE agents in Denver, assisted by other field offices and federal agencies, took down the notorious Castorena family organization. The family ran a massive nationwide network of fake document rings, producing papers such as green cards, Social Security cards, drivers licenses, and other types of documents. Their franchises reached all 50 states.

The work of the DBFTFs intersects with other agency work, including counter-terrorism investigations and worksite operations. Many of ICE’s recent worksite enforcement operations have been launched as a result of information or activity uncovered by the DBFTFs. The 2006 operation conducted against the Swift & Company meat processing business, which resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,300 illegal aliens, was launched after ICE agents discovered hundreds of victims of identity theft from illegal workers at the Swift plants.

While ICE has recently been able to increase its efforts in this area, the agency has limited resources that are stretched across multiple priorities. In 2007, ICE worked 5,080 identity and/or benefit fraud cases, generating hundreds of indictments, arrests, and convictions.13 However, this represented only 7 percent of ICE’s total case load, reflecting the reality that violent criminals and drug smuggling are a more pressing investigative priority for ICE. Further, the DBFTFs must focus their efforts on dismantling large criminal enterprises. They do not have the resources or personnel to investigate every individual alien identity thief. As with other kinds of criminal activity, it is up to state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and address what is happening in their jurisdiction, and be the prosecutors of first resort.

That Illegal Imigration Is a Victimless Crime

Illegal alien-driven identity theft is not a victimless crime. It impacts millions of Americans of all ages. Newborn infants and children often are the victims of illegal alien identity thieves. IRS agents, law enforcement officials, people with disabilities, the unemployed, and even those serving time in jail have been victimized by illegal aliens using their SSNs in order to obtain jobs and other benefits. According to the Wall Street Journal, American citizens with Hispanic surnames are 1.5 times more likely to be victims of job-related identity theft than are other Americans.14

Following the Swift meat packing raids, Department of Homeland Secretary, Michael Chertoff told reporters that:

Anybody who has ever been a victim of identity theft understands the hardship, and, in fact, the persistent hardship, that follows from this kind of crime, and the hardship that is felt by innocent people.

Now, this is not only a case about illegal immigration, which is bad enough. It’s a case about identity theft in violation of the privacy rights and the economic rights of innocent Americans…. These individuals suffered very real consequences in their lives. These were not victimless crimes. 15

Thus, when illegal aliens use SSNs or other documents belonging to American citizens and legal residents, the damage can be substantial. The true owners risk being saddled with the illegal aliens’ credit, arrest, and medical records. Victims may be denied jobs, unemployment insurance, Social Security payments, and Medicaid benefits. It costs victims hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to undo the damage and recover their names and lives.

In addition, all Americans are impacted by the fallout from illegal alien-driven document fraud and identity theft. Rather than spending their earnings in the United States and helping fuel the consumer-driven American economy, illegal workers minimize their expenditures in the United States so they can send billions of dollars back to their home countries. During a recessionary period, this transfer makes it all the more difficult to turn the economy around.

When the economy hits hard times and Americans and legal residents lose their jobs, illegal aliens can continue to work using their stolen identities and fraudulent documents. If an illegal alien who is laid off uses his fraudulent documents to obtain unemployment benefits, this drives up the cost of unemployment insurance. If an illegal alien is using an American’s SSN to obtain unemployment benefits, that citizen will be denied benefits that he or she is legally entitled to.

Children Are Prime Targets. Children do not use their SSNs for employment or to obtain credit so parents generally do not check their children’s credit histories, allowing a person using a child’s SSN to go undetected for years. Sometimes document vendors sell fraudulent identity packages using unassigned SSNs that are later assigned to a child, causing them problems before they are even born.

“We have a major problem with workers in medical offices stealing patients’ identities, selling them, and making a direct profit,” according to Sergeant James Bracke of the Phoenix Police Department.16 The stolen numbers are sold to immigrant smuggling groups who use them to fabricate fraudulent documents for people they bring into the United States via Arizona. The result of this is that in Arizona, child identity theft is nearly four times the national rate and an estimated 1.1 million Arizona children have had their identities stolen.117

State and local investigators in Utah uncovered a crime spree involving illegal aliens using the SSNs of tens of thousands of children. They identified 1,626 companies paying wages to the SSNs of children on public assistance under the age of 13.18 One child’s SSN was being used by 37 adults.

Illegal aliens used the Utah children’s SSNs to get jobs, start businesses, and open bank accounts. One suspect told investigators he paid $100 for a boy’s SSN. Victims included a five-year-old girl who supposedly traveled 80 miles to her job at a steak restaurant, an eight-year-old boy who apparently owned a cleaning company and worked as a prep cook at two upscale restaurants, and an 11-year-old boy who supposedly worked for an express air freight company. The suspects were charged with third degree felony counts of identity fraud and forgery.19

Employment-related identity theft is the largest single driver (27 percent) of identity theft in the state of Texas. Almost 900,000 people became victims of identity theft in Texas in 2007. The cost to Texas victims was an estimated $435.7 million and Texas residents spent an estimated total of 3.5 million hours resolving identity theft issues.20

The link between illegal aliens and identity theft was further confirmed by the Social Security Administration’s Special Agent in Charge in Salt Lake City. As reported in the May 3, 2006, Salt Lake Tribune:

According to Ronald Ingleby, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General in Utah, real Social Security numbers and accounts are being created, or purloined, by undocumented workers to circumvent employers’ efforts to certify their legality….Ninety-eight percent of Social Security-related ID theft cases involve people who use their own names but use someone else’s Social Security number. Two percent involve perpetrators using the numbers to assume their victims’ identities.... 21

Identity Theft Victims Suffer Real Consequences. Victims of identity theft suffer real consequences. The victims of workers at the Swift packing plants included an individual in Texas whose personal information was being used by an illegal alien for employment. The victim was pulled over and arrested because the illegal alien had used his identity to conduct criminal activity.22

In Utah, the staff of the state’s Workforce Services office has seen children denied Medicaid benefits because adults were using their SSNs. Based on information developed by Workforce Services, Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff warned the public about the devastating impact that illegal alien identity theft has on children when he said:

Identity thieves are no respecters of age. They will steal your children’s ID, ruin their credit, and hurt them in ways never thought possible before they can graduate from grade school. Children are vulnerable even if parents do everything right.23

In Illinois, an American citizen was denied a job at a Target store because one of 37 people who were using her SSN was already employed by the company. According to MSNBC, “The woman found herself in a financial nightmare. All those imitators made a mess out of her work history, her Social Security records, and her credit report. She was haunted by bills and creditors. She received threatening letters from the IRS, asking her to pay taxes on money earned by imposters. She was told to re-pay unemployment benefits she had received, after the government discovered she was ‘working’ while drawing benefits.”24

A man whose SSN was used to obtain employment in at least three states was told by the IRS that he owed $64,000 in unpaid taxes in spite of the fact that he had been incarcerated in a state penitentiary during the time the income was earned.25

A nursing home resident nearly lost his disability benefits because a worker at a Pilgrim’s Pride meat plant was using his identity and it appeared that the disabled patient was working.26 An Air Force veteran was arrested on a warrant for unpaid parking tickets incurred by an illegal alien using his identity. He was only released after paying a $340 fine for tickets that he did not incur. He continued to receive demands for the payment of outstanding taxes on income that he had not earned and he saw his credit rating destroyed.27

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg. Millions of Americans either knowingly or unknowingly are sharing their SSNs with illegal aliens and are having their lives slowly usurped by the identity thieves. They will only learn of the damage done when they are denied credit, receive a notice for taxes on income they didn’t earn, are denied benefits that they are entitled to, find that their medical records have been corrupted with possibly life-threatening consequences, or when collection agencies start calling.

A Culture of Corruption

Even those American citizens or legal residents whose identities are not stolen by an illegal alien still suffer the consequences of rampant document fraud and identity theft.

One of the key elements of a free and democratic society is respect for the rule of law by both the government and individuals. However, in most illegal aliens’ homelands, the rule of law is routinely disregarded and official corruption is a serious problem.

Transparency International’s Corruption Prevention Index (CPI) ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption. CPI scores range between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt). The average score for the 10 countries that account for the vast majority of illegal aliens in the United States is 3.43, indicating a serious level of corruption (see Table 2).

[Kathryn41 3,205]

While commenting on illegal vs legal status with relationship to identity theft is on-topic, the discussion back and forth about whether someone is trolling or not by making such comments isn't. One post containing insulting comments has been removed and two posts quoting same edited.

Please do not continue the who is 'right' who is 'wrong' comments as they are derailing the thread from the discussion of the posted topic.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

While commenting on illegal vs legal status with relationship to identity theft is on-topic, the discussion back and forth about whether someone is trolling or not by making such comments isn't. One post containing insulting comments has been removed and two posts quoting same edited.

Please do not continue the who is 'right' who is 'wrong' comments as they are derailing the thread from the discussion of the posted topic.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Is this only post-worthy when an illegal immigrant does it? Just curious.

Of course. If we get ripped off, we prefer to get ripped off by an American jerk-off. Just as we prefer to get killed by an American jerk-off over getting killed by some foreign jerk-off. We prefer that on at least a 30 to 1 basis. Remember: 3,000 Americans killed by foreign jerk-off's - we go to war. 90,000+ Americans since killed by American jerk-off's and we go on our daily lives pretending there's no issue to be addressed.

[TiklingGuy 211]

(edited)

Identity theft sucks. Especially for this victim. She deserves what she got. I hope they dump her off across the border without any water to drink.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Kathryn41
to remove commentary in violation of above warning

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

[aaydrian 479]

(Edited to remove commentary)

As stated both legals AND illegals steal identities. Illegals a lot of times get a SSN from their US born kids or they pay other other illegals OR legals US born and bred Americans for stolen numbers. Legals do the same, use the SSN of their children or buy SSNs (and other info) to 'start fresh'.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Kathryn41
edited to remove commentary in violation of above warning

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Identity theft sucks.

It does. No matter who the identity thief is.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Two posts have been edited to remove 'personal commentary' after the warning, and three posts discussing that commentary removed. Any further 'personal' discussion will result in a thread ban for the poster.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Kathryn41

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22562690/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/illegal-immigrants-turn-identity-theft/#.UOzxZW_EbeI

Illegal immigrants turn to identity theft

Legal names and government-issued ID numbers used to thwart detection

By Roxana Hegeman

updated 1/8/2008 9:15:10 PM ET

WICHITA, Kan. — When U.S. Air Force veteran Marcos Miranda had his identity stolen, he went from being a valued customer and employee to a government statistic — one of thousands of identity theft victims caught up each year in the crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Identity theft has been a growing worry in the United States, but a rise in federal prosecutions of immigrants offers a new wrinkle on the problem. As better systems are developed for verifying employment, illegal immigrants are assuming the names and government-issued ID numbers of Americans like Miranda to thwart detection at workplaces, get driver's licenses and obtain credit.

Miranda first learned someone else was using his identity in 2000 when he was arrested on a warrant for unpaid traffic tickets at the border after a visit to relatives in Mexico. The 24-year-old Texas man was released after paying a $340 fine for violations he never incurred. Although his money was eventually returned, his nightmare was just beginning.

The most common start to identity theft is for the perpetrator get hold of someone's Social Security number, which is part of the system used to record people's earnings for federal retirement benefits. Once a person takes a job in the U.S., the first thing his employer will likely ask for is his or her Social Security number.

In Miranda's case, that's why he has gotten repeated letters from the federal tax officials demanding thousands of dollars in back taxes for wages paid to someone using his name and Social Security number to work at a pork slaughterhouse in Holton, Kansas. Miranda watched his once-high credit rating plummet as creditors reported unpaid bills incurred by others.

"Even though I am Hispanic, I am against illegal immigration," Miranda said. "Even though a lot of them come to work, there are always bad apples. (Identity theft) has really made my perspective ... negative about immigration."

A Mexican national accused of stealing Miranda's identity pleaded guilty last month to one count of using fraudulent documents in a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Joel Rojas-Morales, 27, will be sentenced in March.

"That way he knows crime doesn't pay in America. Maybe in Mexico it does. But here, it may take some time, but the long arm of the law catches up to you," Miranda said.

Chris Joseph, the defense attorney representing Rojas-Morales, is sympathetic to identity theft victims like Miranda.

"I have no reason to doubt that is absolutely true. There is no question he is a victim of identity theft," Joseph said. "The question is: who did the victimizing intentionally? Generally speaking, people who come into the United States don't go out and steal an identity. They generally purchase a set of identity documents for the purpose of being able to work."

Illegal immigrants who buy documents are often reassured by sellers that the identity they're getting belongs to someone who no longer works in this country, who sold his identity papers, who died or who never existed.

"The person naively purchases the papers believing they are not doing any harm," Joseph said.

Prosecutors said Rojas-Morales worked under a false identity at the Kansas pork slaughterhouse since 2004, allegedly using a fraudulent Colorado driver's license, a bogus Social Security card and other phony documents.

Based on Miranda's account of his identity theft problems, Joseph said, it's likely several people were using his identity. Joseph declined to talk specifically about his client's criminal case, or allow him to be interviewed.

The government has "no solid numbers" showing either an increase or decrease in immigration-related identity theft cases nationwide, said Betsy Broder, assistant director in the division of privacy and identity protection at the Federal Trade Commission.

But she said the agency has seen a rise in prosecutions of workers using other people's information to be employed, particularly for using fraudulent Social Security numbers.

By far the largest workplace enforcement to date was the December 2006 raid at six plants owned by the meatpacking firm Swift & Co. in which 1,282 illegal immigrants were arrested.

Statistics show the number of immigration-related criminal cases filed by U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren's office in Wichita more than tripled between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, peaking at 161 by 2006 in Kansas as the Department of Justice stepped up prosecutions for fraudulent documents and identity theft. By 2007, the number slipped to 100 in the state.

"Certainly there has been far more activity starting with action in the Swift packing plant and a number of actions brought by the Department of Homeland Security on these workplace issues," Broder said.

An Federal Trade Commission survey released last month showed identity theft for employment purposes comprised about 1 percent of identity theft cases nationwide, for an estimated 83,000 employment-related identity theft victims in 2005. People using a fraudulent identity to work often use it to also obtain utility services, government benefits, medical care and credit.

Credit card fraud is the most common form of identity theft.

Based on actual numbers of identity theft complaints reported to the trade commission in 2006, states bordering Mexico led the nation in identity theft victims per population. Arizona ranked first — followed by Nevada, California, Texas and Florida.

That data showed 246,035 identity theft victims nationwide who reported at least one type of identity theft to the FTC in 2006. Employment-related fraud comprised 14 percent of the complaints nationwide, and about 11 percent of those reported by Kansas victims.

Kansas ranked 29th in the nation with 1,626 identity theft victims who filed complaints in 2006, the trade commission data showed.

As Rojas-Morales sits in jail in Kansas, the real Marcos Miranda is slowly rebuilding his life in El Paso, Texas, where he works as a truck driver for Swift.

Miranda has gotten a new Social Security number and has signed up for a credit monitoring service.

"That way," he said, "I can get back on track and get my credit back and do what I have to do to keep my identity to myself."