By Helen Seliverstov
Daily Bruin Contributor
The doubling of identity thefts ““ obtaining information
from someone to set up a fraudulent account ““ from several
dozen to 71 over the past year has made it the fastest growing
financial crime at UCLA.
“There are a lot of mailboxes on the Westside that
don’t lock and the thieves grab outgoing mail that contains
credit card bills, W-2 forms, and bank statements,” said UCPD
detective Tony Duenas.
As criminals compile this information to make fraudulent
accounts, the victim does not know about the theft until a
collection agency goes after that person.
“UCLA students, faculty and staff are victimized by
identity theft and are then forced to go on a personal odyssey of
straightening out their record,” said Nancy Greenstein,
director of police community services.
It takes victims from $700 to $1,000 to clear up their credit
record after suffering from identity theft, Duenas said.
Duenas recommends shredding all mail before throwing it away,
cancelling all unused credit cards, and making sure the mailbox
locks or using a post office box.
This is a very easy crime to commit especially now when everyone
has a credit card with a high credit limit, Duenas said.
“These crooks are very ingenious and they find loopholes
and take advantage of them,” he said.
“For example, before only unauthorized possession of
information about people was illegal, which is now changed to any
kind of possession being against the law,” he added.
The reason for such a drastic increase in reports of identity
theft is either that more incidences are occurring, or people have
made it more of a priority to report the crime, Duenas said.
This growing problem was not addressed immediately by the state.
The first law about identity theft was passed in 1998, and to this
day, it is a “wobbler” ““ sometimes considered to
be a felony and other times a misdemeanor.
If it is a misdemeanor, the offender faces up to one year of
county jail and up to a $1,000 fine, but if it is a felony, then
the criminal faces anywhere from 16 months to three years in state
prison according to California Penal Code 530.5.
The most recent case of identify theft at UCLA occurred when
UCPD arrested a non-UCLA-affiliated male and female who were caught
with a notebook of 90-100 names with personal information on March
25, Duenas said.
Another instance occurred at the end of January, when a female
passed two counterfeit checks at the UCLA Store and tried to drive
away. Police later charged her with fraud and forgery after finding
her with false identification, Duenas said.
“UCLA creates an open environment for students and that
makes the student store as prone to check fraud as any retail store
is,” said ASUCLA division manager Gene Robinson.
“Fraudulent practices put a strain on university
operations,” Greenstein said.