The finer points of ID theft

Just like anything else, there is good, better, and best quality in fake IDs. Well, good quality isn’t so good, but it is cheap.

For example, someone creates a fake social security number by picking digits out of a hat. Maybe the number doesn’t exist. Or maybe it belongs to a dead woman in Wyoming. Not so good if it is presented as ID by a 25 year-old man trying to get a job in Illinois. That one is easy to spot.

The “better” quality ID is a real social security number for a real person of roughly the same age, sex, and ethnicity. And your supplier provides you with a decent fake birth certificate. With those two items you can assume the identity of the other person, get a drivers license and credit cards.

One would think that with computers these days, the IRS and/or Social Security Administration would be able to alert authorities that Juan Valdez was working in Illinois AND California at the same time.

Don’t bet on it. First of all, these cases seem to come to the surface when a victim gets a tax bill and starts investigating. It isn’t automatic. Second, law enforcement wouldn’t have the capacity to begin investigating all those duplicate situations. Immigration doesn’t have the manpower and local police aren’t sitting around waiting for something to do.

And don’t forget, the county jail is full.

The “best” ID is sharing with your cousin who IS legal. All earnings and documents go to someone in the family who is about your same age. It looks like Juan Valdez has two jobs here in Elgin, when in fact one of the Juans is cousin Roberto.

The only problem is if Roberto gets arrested for something and his true identity is revealed. Then both of them are in big trouble…Well, not exactly because our system is overloaded and the chances of suffering real consequences are remote.

We bring this up because some AFLA folks assume that employers are scumbags for hiring illegals. Some are; some aren’t.

For example, an illegal was recently picked up at Hansen Plastics. We have learned that Hansen Plastics verifies their hiring documents. The ID thief presented them with a valid Social Security card and an ID that matched the name, description, and approximate age of the real person. They had no way of knowing the person was illegal.

There are efforts sometime in the future to tie the ID process to something with a photo (such as a drivers license) so employers can cross-check with government records somewhere. Even that is not fool-proof, but it is better than nothing.

It all point to the need for comprehensive enforcement. Border security, employer sanctions, and removing the magnets (anchor baby citizenship, free public education, welfare benefits, and free medical care) all need to be addressed.

And we need to step up internal enforcement to detect and deport those who are found to be here illegally. The odds of getting caught and removed need to go way up. And, of course, businesses with a pattern of hiring illegals need to suffer.

Here’s a letter AFLA received from the President of Hansen Plastics, who was very responsive and honest about the situation:

“I would first of all like to thank you for bringing this situation to my attention and giving me the opportunity to reply to some of the concerns being voiced in our community.

First, let me start by saying that we do verify the Social Security numbers OF ALL Hansen Plastics employees to insure they are of legal working status. That being said, we all need to understand that the verification only tells us that the Number is a match to the name, date of birth, and gender of the employee being checked. In this identity theft case, the only identity theft case that we have been involved in, all of these did match. I would also like to point out that this person had a State ID issued by the DMV.

I have also called and talked to Detective James Rosher of the Elgin Police Department who has assured me that there is no way that Hansen Plastics could have known that this person had stolen someone else’s identity. Our heart goes out to the victim of this crime and we agree that more needs to be done to quickly catch and bring to justice these criminals.

Let me close by asking a question. When we call in a SSN and more than one address is attached to that number shouldn’t that red flag that number to be checked internally by the Social Security Administration?

Please feel free to share this with anyone you would like.

Regards,
Roy Lilly
President
Hansen Plastics Corp”


His letter points out that we are at the mercy of government to fix this problem and only we can create the pressure needed to get them to take action.