Morgan County Sheriff Department

How identity thieves get your personal information:

They get information from businesses or other institutions by:
stealing records or information while they're on the job
bribing an employee who has access to these records
hacking these records
conning information out of employees
They may steal your mail, including bank and credit card statements, credit card offers,
new checks, and tax information.
They may rummage through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps
in a practice known as "dumpster diving."
They may get your credit reports by abusing their employer's authorized access to them, or by
posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legal right to access your report.
They may steal your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device
in a practice known as "skimming." They may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or attach the
device to an ATM machine where you may enter or swipe your card.
They may steal your wallet or purse.
They may complete a "change of address form" to divert your mail to another location.
They may steal personal information they find in your home.
They may steal personal information from you through email or phone by posing as legitimate
companies and claiming that you have a problem with your account. This practice is known as
"phishing" online, or pretexting by phone.
 Camphone users take covert shots of your credit card and then use them to steal your identity.
ID theft by camphone is becoming commonplace in the disquieting world of identity theft,
an insidious crime that victimized an estimated 10 million Americans last year.

If you think your identity has been stolen, here's what to do:

Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three consumer reporting companies to place a
fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures before
open any new accounts. You can find these listed below, or contact the sheriff dept. for this
information.

Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.

File your complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). You may print a copy of your complaint to provide important standardized information
for your police report.

File a report with your local police or police in the community where the identity theft took place. Give the police a copy of your FTC ID Theft complaint form. Get a copy of the police report (or, at least, the police report number).

Equifax
U.S. Consumer Services
Equifax Information Services, LLC.
Phone: 678-795-7971
Email: businessrecordsecurity@equifax.com

Experian
Experian Security Assistance
P.O. Box 72
Allen, TX 75013
Email: BusinessRecordsVictimAssistance@experian.com

TransUnion
Phone: 1-800-372-8391

Computer Crimes

Personal computers continue to grow in popularity, likewise the use of computers by criminals
who have discovered new ways to victimize the public has also grown. In response to this new
criminal element, the Morgan Co. Sheriff Dept. now has trained officers for Computer Crimes
that are called “Forensic Computer Examiners”

They do the investigations of computer-related crimes and conduct on-line investigations. The
goals of the Forensic Computer Examiners are to aggressively investigate on-line computer
crimes, and to forensically analyze computers to find evidence.

Some of the training the Forensic Computer Examiners have received is:

Cyber Cop 1-BDRA basic data recovery-National White Collar Crime
Cyber Cop 2-IDRA intermediate data recovery-National White Collar Crime
Access Data Boot Camp-FTK Forensic Software
Cyber-Investigation 100-Identifying and Seizing Electronic Evidence
Cyber-Investigation 101 Secure Techniques for Onsite Preview, NW3C
Cell Phone Forensics
E-Mail Forensics, Purdue University, NW3C, Indiana State Police

This is the second year for the Computer Examiners, and they have prosecuted several people,
mostly in child related crimes, like child pornography, child exploitation, and child solicitation.
Not all computer crimes are related to children. Computer crimes are going on every day right here
in Morgan Co. The Internet is full of scamers and frauds for Products and Services, from
arthritis cures, and anti-aging and other medicines, to “you have won a fee gift”…. but send money!
 Insurance and credit card fraud, less than honest on-line auctions, and fake MDs. Cyber crimes are
growing fast, be careful of e-mails trying to sell you things or posing as a bank or credit card
company that wants your personal information “real” banks and credit card companies won’t ask
for that kind of information by e-mail. If you are not sure about something, look the phone number
up in the “phone book” (not a number in the e-mail) and call them. If you suspect fraud call
you local police department.

Protect your computer, Anti-Virus is important, but it is not the only thing needed to protect
against ID thefts. There is Anti-Spyware, Identity Theft Protectors, and Firewalls that may
also help save you from the nightmares of identity theft.

 Webmaster: Randy Manley