| 77 West Shore Road Windham, NH 03087 September 15, 2000 Identity Theft Ref. # 102-90-02 Secretary Dear Secretary, On July 28th, 2000 I spoke to a Miss Whitney at your Agency to report that my Social Security Number had been used fraudulently. She gave me the reference number shown above and asked me to call Equifax, Experian and Trans Union credit reporting agencies. I began receiving bills from four automobile leasing companies during the previous six days. I called each to tell them that I was not the individual who leased the vehicles. They asked me to send notarized affidavits, and a copy of my driver’s license to them. I was presumed guilty until I could prove I was not. My Social Security number is still known to others. The leasing companies are: Bank of America, Chase Auto Leasing, GE Capital Corporation and World Omni Finance. Other individuals had leased new cars, through them, by using my credit approvals from the CRA’s. A New Jaguar, BMW, Ford Yukon, and a Chevrolet C-15 were leased. The total lease value was $173,392.59. I would like the FTC to understand the utter grief this sort of activity brings to senior citizens. I had to call four auto leasing companies, located across the country, three CRA’s in different cities only to speak with a recording, go to the police department four different times and wait days for them to complete their reports. This time, confusion and expense was just the beginning of my ordeal. The attorney from the auto dealership also called to ask for information and copies of my affidavits. All very disconcerting and expensive!. During the next thirty days I received additional bills with late fees and payment notices. Then, when I received my credit reports, each had major errors on them. Some errors relate to the assistance of the crimes. Others illustrate the incompetence of the CRA’s. Hopefully your Victim Assistance Workshop will begin to apply some control to a new, growing crime category. Further, no law enforcement agency has called me to follow up on my case. Why is that? It seems they or the legislators should take action in this new crime. Sincerely. Richard H. Hannon |