Identity theft linked to illegal immigration
Apr. 23, 2008 06:58 PM
McClatchy Newspapers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Nobody likes getting a letter from the IRS. So imagine Amanda Bien’s reaction last Valentine’s Day when the agency wrote to demand $3,300 in back taxes.
For jobs she never worked. Five of them. In multiple states.
A Lenexa, Kan., Taco Bell. A Wendy’s restaurant. Two Target stores, one in California. The Engineered Air manufacturing plant in De Soto, Kan. Someone, somewhere, got Bien’s name and Social Security number and gave it a workout.
A 28-year-old illegal immigrant was later arrested at the De Soto plant and faces ID theft charges.
Though illegal immigrants aren’t the only ones stealing identities, cases like Bien’s illustrate the inability of disparate government agencies to tackle the problem.
While lawmakers in Washington debate ways to crack down on illegal immigration, the market for false documents and stolen Social Security numbers is booming.
Particularly vulnerable, authorities say, are legal residents with Hispanic last names. Or, as in Bien’s case, names that could sound Hispanic.
As politicians know and Bien is finding out, it’s a problem that defies easy solutions.
The IRS may suspect that multiple people are using the same Social Security number, but the agency doesn’t investigate ID theft. Local police and prosecutors cannot deport illegal immigrants they arrest.
“I feel like nobody’s listening,” said Bien, 23, of Ottawa, Kan. “If this can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And if we don’t do something about it now, what’s going to happen in 10 years?”
Federal estimates indicate that nearly 10 million Americans become victims of identity theft each year. Officials can’t say how many of those identities are being used by illegal workers, but prosecutors in Kansas say they see more cases of illegal immigrants using fake credentials every year.
It mirrors an increase in overall cases related to illegal immigration. The Kansas U.S. attorney’s office received 18 such cases in 1997; in 2007, the number was 106.
Experts expect the trend to continue, and they’re finding ID theft in surprising places. Last fall, U.S. prosecutors in Missouri charged five noncitizens with ID theft after they were found working in the Kansas City Federal Building’s cafeteria.
“We know there are thousands and thousands of people working here who aren’t even supposed to be here,” said Brent Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney for Kansas. “There is rampant ID theft going on … and I’m afraid that given the situation we’re in right now, this is just the beginning.”
Source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/23/20080423identity-theft0423-ON.html
Do you think your childrens identity is safe?
could this be the reasoning behind the chip…..after all if it became a matter of fingerprints and eye scans…there would be alot of fingerless and eyeless people running around.
Of course, a hispanic criminal illegal cannot steal the name of Markowitz or Goldschmidt and people not know it was stolen.
Until employers are made to do social sercurity checks on people(all people) then this problem is never going to end. Just handing over a s.s. card and making a copy for the applicants file is not good enough anymore. Our government has known about ID theft for years, and still choose to do nothing about the problem. There are plenty of sites on the internet that lists dead peoples s.s. numbers, all for the taking, my own mothers s.s. number is listed. America is taken over by banditos and our gov and local police choose to protect them, and if the citizens try to stand up for ourselves then we are called racist. This has to come to an end. No ones ID is secure.
In the case of LPR’s I would guess that a large majority of their social security #’s are not stolen, I would say they are loaned out or sold.
Another problem is anchor baby social security numbers. A parent, if living in the US, will use the baby’s number to work or will sell or lend it to someone else. They also do this for filing tax returns.
Children are the most susceptible. It is years before a theft would be discovered and they are taken out of pediatricians offices.
DO NOT PUT A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ON DOCUMENTS AT MEDICAL OR DENTAL OFFICES. IT IS NOT REQUIRED.
A social is required only when applying for credit or employment.
Thats why we are starting the proces to deport them all.
if they are illegal they will not get anything stolen. only USA citizens will be ripped off and destroyed.