What one man is doing to fight the nation’s fastest growing crimes: Identity Theft
Posted by MDT on April 20, 2008
News staff writer
For the past five years, Jimmy Parrish has helped companies across 20 states implement plans that help their customers and employees avoid falling victim to one of the nation’s fastest-growing crimes: identity theft.
It is a job Parrish takes personally – his identity was stolen by scam artists five years ago.
More than 162 million personal records were reported lost or stolen last year, triple the 49.7 million that went missing in 2006, Parrish said. A February report from the Federal Trade Commission ranked Alabama 17th among U.S. states in the number of identity theft complaints last year, up from 27th in 2006.
It is a crime that can create havoc for both businesses such as TJ Maxx and governmental agencies such as the U.S. Veterans Administration, both of which reported huge identity theft breaches last year.
Parrish shares why identity theft continues to rise and tells his story…
“Someone had checks made with my routing number and account number but with a fictitious address in Coosa County. They also had a fake Alabama driver’s license with my name, but someone else’s picture.
Over $3,000 in hot checks were written to Mississippi casinos, cleaning out my account. My local bank reimbursed me every dollar since they budget for that occurrence. However, they required me to spend parts of three days in their branch to meet with fraud investigators, who performed handwriting analysis until they were convinced I was not the culprit.”
“I literally was considered guilty until proven innocent, and felt like I was being treated as the criminal instead of the victim.“
“I promptly changed banks after the ordeal, which helped focus my efforts on making a difference in the area of identity theft risk management and keeping other identity theft victims from not having to experience the trials I had gone through.
A mentor from my youth in Montgomery, who later served as chief of staff for Alabama Gov. Fob James, got involved in this field in the late 1990s. I was intrigued but not convinced I could make a living in this new and upcoming niche consulting market.”
“At that time, I had started my own company specializing in religious event planning and international missions travel. After 9/11 crippled my business in 2001 and 2002, I launched full time into this field in 2003 and now have clients in over 20 states.
I show businesses how to minimize the risk and mitigate the damages when identity theft strikes a member of the business community. No business is immune, public or private, for-profit or nonprofit. A business employing one person or a business employing thousands of employees can fall victim.”
“I have clients that fit all ranges of business types. I seek to educate a business owner about the new identity theft laws requiring businesses to be taking reasonable measures to ensure sensitive and nonpublic information is not compromised, based on Federal Trade Commission guidelines.
The ID theft consulting field continues to grow. Whereas other industries are laying off employees and entering downturns, my business has never been stronger, having set income records each month in 2008 over 2007.”
Because many of the perpetrators are operating outside our country’s borders, mostly through the Internet, where our laws cannot touch these thieves. The U.S. government is trying to police business owners, whom they can control.
New ID theft laws have been passed this decade, but when thieves are caught, the sentences have been so light that incarceration, fines and penalties are not serving as much of a deterrent. Now, 38 states have either passed laws or in the process of doing so.
What should you do if victimized by identity theft?
Contact one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit report. That bureau will contact the other two signaling to credit granters that a thief may be using your identity for criminal means.
Close all accounts. Begin with credit cards and close bank accounts if your check book was stolen. File a police report. Regardless of what you experience, you will need to take action immediately to minimize the ultimate financial impact.
