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Why Lenders Overlook Warning Signs of ID Theft
Hugh Pickens writes "Despite all the new fraud alert tools and increased awareness of the perils of identity theft, incidence of the crime remains at 2003 levels, with about 10 million Americans falling victim every year. Now the NY Times reports that there may be a simple reason for the persistence of ID theft: lenders are too willing to extend credit to just about anybody, even when there are big red flags that indicate fraud. Chris Jay Hoofnagle at UC Berkeley worked with a small sample of six ID theft victims and delved into how they were defrauded. Of 16 applications presented by imposters to obtain credit or medical services, almost all were rife with errors that should have suggested fraud — yet in all 16 cases, credit or services were granted anyway. 'Identity theft remains so prevalent because it is less costly to tolerate fraud,' writes Hoofnagle. 'Adopting more aggressive and expensive anti-fraud measures is extremely costly and jeopardizes customer acquisition efforts.' Hoofnagle says business decisions leave individuals and merchants with some of the externalities of identity theft as victims spend their own money, and more often, valuable personal time dealing with the problem. Hoofnagle suggests that lenders contribute to a fund that will compensate victims for the loss of their time in resolving their ID theft problems."
"The victim"?
If you steal someone's identity and scam a bank out of $1,000, then there is more than one victim: namely, the person whose identity you stole, and the bank (or broadly, its shareholders). Of course, I don't expect most slashdotters to be capable of recognizing this simple fact.
Find a bank that isn't run by assholes. The girls at my local community bank know who I am, never ask me for ID and never give me any issues cashing a check. Do business with an outfit that sees you as a person rather than someone who is looking to rip them off.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Yup. Everyone that works at a 5/3rd bank are raging assholes. They actually seek out asshole attitudes...
excerpt from an interview....
Interviewer: What do you do if a customer wants you to do something like a withdraw or cashing a check?
Intervieweee: I check their bank balance, if it's above 6 figures then I help them, if it's not then I tell them to go fuck themselves.
Interviewer : You're hired!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.