Identity thieves in the D.C. area are increasingly using victims’ personal information to improperly obtain government documents or benefits, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission.
The total number of fraud, identity theft and other consumer complaints reported to the FTC jumped 34 percent in the District, 29 percent in Maryland and 42 percent in Virginia in 2011 compared with 2010. Those numbers are above the nationwide rise of 24 percent.
In all three local jurisdictions, debt-collection scams were the most common mode of fraud and the most frequent type of identity theft involved government documents or benefits. Nationwide, complaints about document- and benefit-related identity theft have increased 11 percent since 2009, according to the FTC.
| Identity theft, fraud and other consumer complaints | ||||
| Jurisdiction | 2011 total | Change from 2010 | ||
| D.C. | 5,735 | +34 percent | ||
| Maryland | 36,561 | +29 percent | ||
| Virginia | 47,581 | +42 percent | ||
| Nation | 1,813,080 | +24 percent | ||
| Source: Federal Trade Commission | ||||
Security experts say that’s because it’s simple for criminals to obtain someone else’s name and Social Security number, then use that information on unemployment forms, tax returns and other documents.
“It’s the point of least resistance,” said Todd Davis, chief executive of the identity-protection company Lifelock. “The security has not advanced as fast as some other sectors.”
Financial institutions have put more safeguards on consumers’ personal information, leaving criminals to turn elsewhere, experts said.
In the Washington region, several people have faced federal charges in recent years for using the Social Security numbers of deceased relatives to get a variety of government benefits; others have been accused of selling fraudulent immigration documents.
Reports of government documents and benefits fraud rose 51 percent in D.C. last year, 43 percent in Maryland and 50 percent in Virginia.
Such documents are also a source of information for identity thieves.
“As tax season comes up, criminals are going to use that as a chance to gain personal information,” Davis said.
The overall increase in fraud and identity theft has been fueled by the persistent economic downturn — which has made scams more enticing to thieves and consumers more gullible — and surges in social networking and smartphone use, said Adam Levin, the chairman of Identity Theft 911 and Credit.com, which help people prevent and respond to identity theft.
People put vast amounts of personal details that thieves can mine on social networks, and tools like banking applications mean phones are filled with identification information.
“Phones feel like communication devices,” Levin said. “To identity thieves, phones are data storage devices.”
