An identity theft suspect is in custody after trying to open a credit card under a second assumed identity at the same store in less than a week.
On Sunday, an Old Navy staffer at the store near East Towne Mall in Madison thought a customer looked familiar. The woman tried to open a credit card. The staffer realized it was the same person who had opened another account a few days before, under a different identity, and walked away with $1,000 in gift cards.
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Police believe the suspect was using a doctored Vermont drivers license. Receipts indicate she may have bought thousands of dollars in gift cards from other local stores under other identities, possibly traveling outside the state to cash them in on unsuspecting businesses.
“These thieves are professionals,” said Joe Campana, who advises businesses on how to prevent and recover from identity theft. “An inexperienced thief will go in and do something like that the first time, and very likely get caught, but an experienced thief will be testing and seeing ‘Hey, is this gonna work?’ They’ll do $20 gift certificates.”
The Old Navy suspect, who authorities are still trying to identify, purchased cards from at least five stores in Madison including a Boston store where she walked away with $1,000 credit.
“It’s cheap for a crook, it’s relatively easy, doesn’t require any kind of investment in terms of a computer or modem or anything like that,” said Wisconsin Trade and Consumer Protection Administrator Sandy Chalmers. “They may not realize it until months later and in the meantime the thief has continued to open up new lines of credit and bank accounts or home loans in your name.”
Chalmers says a call to one of the three major credit reporting agencies should be among a victim’s first. That can limit what accounts can be opened in your name. She also recommends not carrying your social security card number on your person.
Fraud cases claim about $2 billion every year in the US, a quarter of the cases involving credit cards.
