Mr Bernanke’s personal bank account became entangled in an elaborate identity-theft scheme after his wife Anna’s purse was stolen last August at a Starbucks coffee shop in Washington DC. According to a police report, it contained her Social Security card, cheque book, credit cards and IDs.
It’s not been revealed how much money was stolen from the Bernankes’ account. But someone started cashing cheques on their bank account just days after the purse was stolen from her chair. The thefts helped fuel an ongoing investigation into a sophisticated ring. Losses from the fraud added up to more than $2.1m (£37.5m) and involved at least 10 financial institutions, court documents said. Clyde Austin Gray Jr. of Waldorf, Maryland, a suspected ringleader in the scheme, pleaded guilty in a Virginia court in July.
The banks bore primary responsibility for the losses and the victims’ accounts, including the Bernankes, were most likely made whole.
“Identity theft is a serious crime that affects millions of Americans each year,” Mr Bernanke said in a statement. “Our family was but one of 500 separate instances traced to one crime ring. I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who patiently and diligently work to solve and prevent these financial crimes.”
Kudos to Law Enforcement for a quick resolution to this case. The guy who stole my identity in 2001 still hasn’t been caught…..I wonder why?
“The guy who stole my identity in 2001 still hasn’t been caught…..I wonder why?”
Uhm, you should have told the police you are a distant relative of Mr Bernanke’s extended family.
They say, everyone is connected by 6 degrees of separation, so you wouldn’t be lying and the thieves would have been caught.
Think of all the other people that had their identity stolen because the police didn’t catch your thief.
So, it’s very reasonable and patriotic to tell the police I am a distant relative of Mr Bernanke’s extended family.
We had a similar incident–credit card information theft by a waiter, who used the number to buy clothing. We called our credit union, who took care of it in a hurry, and notified the police. I think that’s a normal response.
Maybe NOW Congress can be motivated to DO something constructive about this problem. Like, for instance: making you SSN similar to a username and requiring the input of a private password before it can be used to open an account or any other sort of transaction that requires and SSN.
Failing that (and I’m realistic, I doubt this will happen any time soon): NEVER carry your SS card in your purse or wallet! Credit cards can be cancelled with a letter or phone call, but you SSN cannot EASILY be cancelled or changed.
Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes. Because, the original purpose of this number was to track individuals’ accounts within the Social Security program
However; the SSN has become a de facto national identification number.
It’s interesting and instructive that in Germany, there is no national identification number legalized. Only decentralized databases are kept by social insurance companies, which allocate a social insurance number to almost every person.
Why would you carry all that sensitive info with you all at once?
I’ve carried mine in my head since college. They posted our grades on the wall and you could ID yours by the number.
Of course at the time having an SS number wasn’t going to get you jack unless they were sure about who you were and having somebody elses number wasn’t going to help you a lot.
They wanted the names and phone numbers of local people that would recommend you. Somebody with a bank account and a fairly solid reputation.
I had a thankfully minor brush with identity theft (and I need to acknowledge Citibank for detecting it and calling me before any real damage was done).
I have a co-worker who had such a problem with identity theft, he actually applied for and got a new Social Security Number (yes apparently that is possible).
The big problem is that it is up to local law enforcement (unless you are well connected) to deal with it and most are unequipped and/or unwilling to deal with it. It gets particularly sticky when the thief is in a different city or state. How bad did it get for my associate? He actually had a lien placed on his wages for child support for a child that wasn’t his!!! It took years to untangle it, and I guess the new SS number finally solved it.
Its a huge problem that is not being addressed in any meaningful way.
C1
$2.1m = 37.5m pounds? Is that Australian or Hong Kong Dollars?
21,000,000.00 USD = 12,910,799.50 GBP
1 USD = 0.614800 GBP
1 GBP = 1.62655 USD
#1 my Mom’s cousin wrote the novel Six Degrees of Seperation, years ago I often saw John at large family gatherings.
# 9 Father Tomb,
Are you saying John is fat?
#10, noname.
Just large.