Congressman Casey victim of financial identity theft
In a wonderful article written by Kathryn Eident, she interviewed Representative Paul Casey of Massachussetts about his financial identity theft.
When state Rep. Paul Casey, D-Winchester, started receiving bills for credit cards he hadn’t signed up for, he didn’t worry right away.
“You suddenly get those bills, and after one or two you think, ‘My wife must have taken those out,’ ” he said.
But more bills kept coming. Bills from the Pottery Barn, the Gap, Linens N’ Things and Home Depot. Bills that added up to nearly $18,000 in goods Casey hadn’t purchased. By the time he got a call from Boston Police, Casey knew he was a victim of identity theft and had already notified the credit card companies. (Actually Congressman, the creditcard companies and businesses extended credit to a financial identity thief on your behalf with their sloppy credit-approval processes. However, as you’ve seen, when the creditors extend your credit to a thief, the victim gets stuck with the cleanup, not the businesses or creditcard companies. -John Barksdale)
Rep. Casey was one of 11 other Paul Caseys in Massachusetts who fell victim to a string of identity thefts that racked up more than $100,000 in fake credit card bills.
As a result, Massachusetts is taking sweeping steps, becoming the first state to require businesses to guard their customers’ identity information.
But the new law has come under fire from businesses who say the regulations will hurt already struggling companies.
“I see things like this, and I get frustrated because policymakers haven’t been in the private sector,” said John Hurst, president of the Retailers’ Association of Massachusetts. “We need policymakers to put themselves in the shoes of business.”
Casey also understands the importance of plugging the leaks. Five years after his identity was stolen, he still struggles to redeem his once-good credit score.
“Every time you cancel a card, your credit gets whacked. I haven’t been able to refinance my mortgage.”
Since his identity was stolen, Casey has sponsored identity theft legislation, though none passed. One proposal would have required stores to take photos of every customer who signed up for a credit card so law enforcement would have a database to refer to in identity theft cases.
“There are practically no video records because most companies purge their film after two weeks,” he said. “Why not have a picture of a person on file when they take out a credit card?”
Tags: congressman casey, identity theft
January 28th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
your vote for tim the thief,tax and otherwise liar caught on e net means these actions are okay with you and obama.his checkers speech was great just like nixon!