ME&MEE

Guillaume Deybach is the President and CEO of Worldwide Assistance the US office of Europ Assistance. Worldwide Assistance’s Identity Theft Resolution Services help financial institutions retain customers and reduce the burden on call centers by allowing current and existing customers to gain added protection and assistance around identity theft.

Ensuring that a person’s monetary losses in the event of identity theft are limited is a very good thing. According to a recent insurance industry study, typical identity theft losses can be in the thousands of dollars. Any protection mechanism that caps these losses at $50, for example, is laudable. This is the reason so many banks offer this kind of protection to their credit and debit card customers. But once the bleeding has stopped, damage to the victim’s good name and financial standing remain and must be corrected. Financial losses are the proverbial tip of the iceberg; restoring credit-worthiness is the lumbering behemoth just beneath the surface.

U.S. banks, leading issuers of credit and debit cards, have at least five reasons to address the identity theft issue:

First, banks are often the last line of defense between identity thieves and their victims. As such, they can be viewed as carrying a moral responsibility to protect consumers from ID theft. While there may be no legal or financial liability involved with this perception, there is a potential market liability.

Second, bank personnel will ultimately be involved in helping their credit and debit card customers recover from the ravages of identity theft. Employee time spent on these matters cannot be spent on other matters.

Third, another efficiency issue is tied to bank employees who themselves become victims of identity theft. Among working Americans, it is likely that as many as one in 10 persons have had their identities stolen. This includes bank employees, and a typical identity theft victim will spend as many as 600 hours over the better part of a year working to resolve issues related to a single case of identity theft.

Fourth, as institutions that hold confidential customer data in their file cabinets and databases, banks have a very real legal responsibility to protect these data. Should a bank employee be implicated in an identity theft case for having mishandled customer information, the bank may well be held liable.

In light of the competitive, operational, and legal concerns associated with identity theft, banks do well to stand against this crime in whatever ways are feasible. Banks are well equipped to protect themselves, their customers, and their owners from becoming legally entangled in identity theft.

That’s why banks and other issuers of credit and debit cards have begun offering enhanced forms of identity theft protection to their customers. ID Theft Resolution Services from Worldwide Assistance can assist banks in helping their customers, if victimized by ID theft, quickly and easily recover from by assigning a specially trained coordinator to work with them toward a complete resolution. The coordinator personally assists the victim by doing the necessary paperwork, making appropriate phone calls, and completing other restoration activities, such as credit report reviews, account cancellations, disputed items removal, and more. This frees the identity theft victim to worry less and focus on their existing responsibilities instead of the task of restoring his or her good name. This package of services can be offered by the card issuer to differentiate its credit or debit products from those of the competition.

The identity theft problem is real. Competitive pressures for banks increase regularly. By utilizing innovative products that help minimize the impacts of identity theft, banks can not only compete better for valuable customer relationships but also demonstrate their continuing leadership in the community.

ME&ME recently talked with Jarrett Ferrier of Washington, D.C., about his experience as an ID theft victim. We appreciate Jarrett’s willingness to share his story with us, and hope that our readers may be able to learn from the lessons he learned the hard way.

ME&ME: How did you first realize that you had become a victim of identity theft?

Jerrett Ferrier: About a month after I had visited the Washington, D.C., Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to renew my driver’s license, I received a piece of junk mail that somehow seemed to warrant my opening. It was from a bank in Washington that I had never heard of before. The bank was informing me that my credit card application had been denied due to lack of response from my references. As I had never completed such an application, I decided to call the bank.

The bank informed me that I completed the application after I came in to open my checking account. Since I had never been to that bank before, much less opened a checking account with them, I decided that I needed to visit the bank immediately.

I learned during my visit with the bank that someone had obtained a driver’s license from the DMV under my name and used that license to open a checking account with the bank, also in my name. The bank was very cooperative and issued me a legal affidavit of forgery.

ME&ME: What happened after that?

JF: Not long after that, I began receiving collection letters. The person who stole my identity and successfully obtained a driver’s license and checking account as me was on a spending spree. With two or three such letters arriving daily, dealing with them became a part of my daily routine. Most of the commercial victims, when they heard my story, asked me to fax them a copy of my affidavit of forgery. This seemed to be all they needed from me to clear my name.

ME&ME: How long did this go on?

JF: For a couple of years. Each individual occurrence was simple enough to rectify with the affidavit of forgery, but having to deal with it a dozen or so times a week for years became extremely time-consuming. Those were hours I could have been working. And it felt very invasive to know someone pretending to be me was out there defrauding individual businesses of hundreds of dollars at a time.

ME&ME: What about the financial impact on you?

JF: Fortunately, I became aware of the ID theft early, and as a result suffered minimal financial loss or harm to my credit rating. For me, the biggest loss was the time I spent clearing my name with individual businesses.

ME&ME: Do you have any advice for other people?

JF: Just that it’s important to pay attention. What seems like just another piece of junk mail or junk e-mail might be an indication that someone has stolen, or tried to steal, your identity. The earlier you uncover the fraud, the easier the problems will be to correct, so pay attention to things that seem out of place. Having people who know the territory working with you is very helpful also.

ME&ME: Jarrett, thanks for sharing your story with us.

JF: Thanks for letting me tell it. I hope it helps your readers.

Tags: Identity Theft, ID Theft, DMV, Department of Motor Vehicles

How did you become such a crusader and advocate for Identity theft victims?
In 1997 my wife became a victim of identity theft when her employer stole her identity. During the 18 month clean up we discovered the truly staggering amount of bad information that was being provided to victims. We started the center to provide a place for victims to get correct information and guidance in dealing with the various players involved.

What is the mission of the Identity Theft Resource Center?
Our aim it to provide best in class assistance and guidance to victims of identity theft from both camps. The individuals whose identity has been used as well as the company that is out goods or services. We also provide up to date information on the new trends and patterns of this crime for all parties. We aim to build a cooperative team for dealing with this problem. 

What are the most common forms of identity theft happening today?
Credit card fraud is still the most prevalent form of identity theft. Much of the credit card fraud is based on suspected card skimming operations. Following that is the ever popular new account fraud, Account take over and the ever fun counterfeit check schemes.   

With digital technologies making it easier for criminals to steal identities, do you ever see it going away?
Not likely. As each new technology is brought on line to combat one area of the problem the thieves are already working on the next new loop hole in the system. This will be a continuous fight to catch up as well as to create the perfect system. That said there is no such thing as a perfect system.

What is the most important tip in preventing ID theft that you can share?
Beware of the potential problems that may pop up in normal day to day life that can expose your information to the eyes of a thief.