ID theft provides valuable lesson in holiday caution

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Tudor
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores (AFPN) --  At age 16, my friend Michael and I were holed up in his bedroom, surrounded by thousands of “Star Wars” toys, using a Commodore VIC-20 computer to “war dial” into computer systems around the greater San Diego area.

The war dialer dialed thousands of numbers. Every time a computer tone came up, the war dialer stored the number so we could go back and dial it again.

Admittedly, we were first-generation hackers looking to peek into bank systems, computer bulletin boards and anything else that would answer our calls as “computer.” If you lived in Southern California and your phone rang at 3:13 a.m., it may have been us. We lost a lot of sleep doing this.

A few times, we peeked into those systems. Saw what was inside. We may have even noodled with some text on the systems. We did it to let people know we were there, but we never did anything people with common sense would consider malicious. We were young, invincible and without a car in the wee hours of a Saturday morning. It’s what many would consider harmless fun and experimentation.

In contrast, I had $1,950 stolen from my bank account Dec. 8.

Someone who stole my debit card number made two charges to a record store in England. I am a victim of identity theft. No. Wait. Victim is the wrong word. I made mistakes that got my debit card number stolen doing some online shopping.

I am one of the strongest advocates of the Internet as a means of commerce. A study done in the first two quarters of 2003, conducted by comScore Networks, determined that consumer spending for online content in the U.S. grew to $748 million in the first half of 2003, according to the Yahoo! Web site’s finance page.

That’s an increase of 23 percent over the same period last year, Yahoo! said, and proves that I am not alone in using the Web as a means to spend my consumer income.

The cost of identity theft? It rips into one in eight adults, according to CNN.com. The Federal Trade Commission said there were 9.9 million victims in 2002 costing businesses $48 billion and individuals $5 billion, the equivalent of a fleet of B-2 bombers. Not small change.

And what were these particular mistakes I made that "did me in?" I'd bought only two gifts this Christmas; both from what I believed were reputable retailers. However, before the holiday season, I made dozens of purchases from retailers who may have sold my information to someone who decided to buy two G’s worth of Pet Shop Boys CDs (or something) with my money. So, I may have let my guard down.

You’re going to giggle: money is a secondary issue here. What’s worth noting is the anger I feel. First, anger at the thief who used my bank account to buyout someone’s musical library. However, the real rock in my stomach comes from my allowing me to be careless and let this happen. I didn't take the time to check out those Web retailers properly. I didn't stick to well-known, reliable Web retailers.

Being robbed delivers a complex series of emotions: fear, anger and worry are just three.

On the one hand, I have respect for the thief. On the other, I just want my money back so I can buy some groceries and pay my rent.

Michael and I probably weren’t thinking of who lost sleep or the damage we did as teenagers goofing off 18 years ago. It’s a strange contrast to what just happened to me Dec. 8. However, others with intent that is more sinister have evolved into those who prey upon consumers’ bank accounts. One found my debit card number.

If the perp who stole my money has your debit card or social security number now, you can be sure he’s finding ways to spend it -- and he won’t be losing any sleep thinking of the consequences. (Courtesy of United States Air Forces in Europe News Service)