When Jennifer Davis, special education senior, had her wallet
stolen two years ago she became a victim of one of the
fastest-growing crimes in America.

“By the time I made it back to the dorm to cancel the
credit cards, they’d already made charges,” Davis
said.

The thief had charged several hundred dollars to her credit
card.

Every week, someone reports a stolen wallet or credit card to
either the Norman Police Department or the OU Department of Public
Safety. Sgt. Gary Robinson, of the OUDPS, said students are
frequent victims of identity theft at OU.

Identity theft topped the list of consumer complaints to the
Federal Trade Commision in 2003, according to the OUDPS Web site.
The number of incidents is 40 percent higher than in 2002.

It has become such a vast problem encompassing so many aspects
of daily life that many students often don’t know where to go
for answers.

To help ensure people get the right information, OUDPS created a
Web site about the prevention of identity theft and what victims
should do. The Web site was recently featured as USA Today’s
top Internet “Hot Site” on March 2. The Web site
address is http://www.ou.edu/oupd/idtheft.htm.

“I encourage students to visit the Web site,”
Robinson said. “Maybe they will find something to at least
improve their chances of preventing identity theft.”

The main components of identity theft include a Social Security
number, date of birth and addresses, Robinson said. Perpetrators
obtain victim’s identity in one of five ways: business record
theft, shoulder surfing, dumpster diving, impersonating authority
and skimming, according to the OUDPS identity theft Web site.

Davis said she is more cautious now and requires vendors to
check identification when making credit card purchases.

Robinson said requiring identification is a good idea but
won’t totally alleviate the problem because there are other
ways to purchase things. New technologies such as online shopping
and self checkout allow the thief to conduct transactions
anonymously.

Kristin Kusbel, psychology junior, had her wallet, car stereo
and CDs stolen from her vehicle last year in Texas. The thieves
also stole a prescription bottle that had more of Kusbel’s
personal information. Kusbel said she got everything straightened
out with the banks and vendors but said she is concerned because no
one was ever arrested.

“This happens a lot, and we never catch them,”
Kusbel said.

Robinson agreed, saying that the nature of the crime makes it
hard for law enforcement to identify the perpetrator and prosecute
them.

A new bill proposed byRep. Kevin Cox, D-Okla, would give the
government the power to make someone guilty of identity theft
compensate the victim, said Mike Ray, media division director, in a
press release. The bill known as House Bill 2287 received a
unanimous vote in the House.

Robinson said students should invest in a lockbox and paper
shredder to prevent personal material from getting into the wrong
hands. Another important point is to never write a pin number on
anything.

“If a criminal uses your pin number, it’s going to
be really hard for you to disprove that you didn’t authorize
it,” Robinson said.
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