Originally published June 29 2005
Identity theft crossing state lines
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
While identify theft involves stealing Social Security numbers, credit cards or other identification; in some cases, the thief commits other crimes, implicating the innocent person's name on the arrest warrant.
Leraitta Patton and her 14-year-old daughter Tanisha Long had just spent several pleasant, warm days at a wedding in Jamaica.
They landed in Miami and were waiting in the customs line, tired but ready for the flight home to Minneapolis.
In a holding room, customs officers told Patton she was wanted for larceny in Ohio.
It took about 45 minutes to untangle the truth; her identity had been stolen and used to commit a crime.
The increased sophistication of criminal databases means that crimes committed anywhere -- and sometimes years ago -- are popping up with more frequency during I.D. checks.
For travelers like Patton and other unsuspecting victims of identity theft, that can be a rude awakening.
"It can happen when you're traveling home from overseas, during a traffic stop, or even visiting a secure location, like a tour of the White House," said Joanna Crane, head of the Federal Trade Commission's identity theft program.
Typically, someone steals Social Security numbers, credit cards or other identification and uses the information to make fraudulent charges or withdrawals.
But in some cases, the identity thief commits other crimes -- anything from drug dealing to large-scale fraud -- leaving the innocent person's name on the arrest warrant.
In Patton's case, someone stole her purse in 1989 and used her identification when arrested for stealing from a department store in Ohio.
In a 2003 federal study, 9.9 million Americans said they'd been a victim of identity theft in 2002, said Crane of the FTC.
Litner, who works for a corporate research firm called the Gartner Group, said that discovering your identity has been stolen is just the beginning of what can be a very difficult situation.
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