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Valley identity theft expert said there’s a strong correlation between high rates of ID theft and the numbers of illegal immigrants in a state.
The states with the highest rates of identity theft complaints are also states with “illegal immigration issues,” according to Mark Pribish, an identity theft expert who works for Merchants Information Solutions.
"In those states,” said Pribish, “You have a lot of illegal immigrants filling out employment numbers with nine random numbers of where a Social Security number is supposed to be.”
“The Federal Trade Commission counts it as an identity theft event, so even though an actual ID theft event did not take place,” he said. "In reality, it's an employment fraud event. You have misrepresentation on an employment application."
In 2009, the states with the highest rates of identity theft complaints were Florida, Arizona, Texas, California and Nevada, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s website.
"It does skew the statistic on how many ID thefts are taking place,” said Pribish.
Pribish said illegal immigrants also often steal real Social Security numbers to gain employment, but usually only use the information to get a job or find a place to live.
That’s precisely what happened to Mesa resident Debbie Fry.
"This situation is just bizarre,” she said.
The U.S. Secret Service called her last Tuesday to inform her an illegal immigrant in Texas had been using her Social Security number for years.
Fry had no idea until she got the call.
“I feel really violated,” she said. “I'm in shock. I can't really believe that this is even happening.”
The woman was caught while trying to purchase a car using Fry’s Social Security number.
Fry said an agent told her the woman has used her on employment applications and to buy a home.
Pribish said it is not uncommon for an illegal immigrant to get away with using someone else’s Social Security number.
He recommends more employers complete background checks on their employers and notifies authorities when red flags pop up.
"Cracking down on illegal immigration and cracking down on ID theft, the process is in place,” he said.
CBS 5 reached out to Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Terry Goddard to find out if they think more needs to be done to stop identity theft.
Here are their responses:
Attorney General’s office:
“The AG does not have jurisdiction on individual cases of ID theft but does prosecute conspiracies to defraud multiple victims using stolen identities, cases where the victims lose money. The stolen Social Security numbers are usually used to gain employment where an SSN is required. The problem is much reduced in Arizona since the employer sanctions law went into effect three years ago. The law requires an e-verify check before being hired which determines whether the applicant is using a false SSN.”
Paul Senseman, Governor Brewer’s Director of Communication:
"Our entire border security plan and enforcement of illegal immigration laws (SB 1070) are comprehensively one of the most substantial responses to identity theft to date."
