Identity theft linked to illegal aliens

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Nobody likes getting a letter from the IRS. So imagine Amanda Bien's reaction last Valentine's Day when the agency wrote to demand $3,300 in back taxes.

For jobs she never worked. Five of them. In multiple states.

A Lenexa, Kan., Taco Bell. A Wendy's restaurant. Two Target stores, one in California. The Engineered Air manufacturing plant in De Soto, Kan. Someone, somewhere, got Bien's name and Social Security number and gave it a workout.

A 28-year-old illegal immigrant was later arrested at the De Soto plant and faces ID theft charges.

Though illegal immigrants aren't the only ones stealing identities, cases like Bien's illustrate the inability of disparate government agencies to tackle the problem.

While lawmakers in Washington debate ways to crack down on illegal immigration, the market for false documents and stolen Social Security numbers is booming.

Particularly vulnerable, authorities say, are legal residents with Hispanic last names. Or, as in Bien's case, names that could sound Hispanic.

As politicians know and Bien is finding out, it's a problem that defies easy solutions.

The IRS may suspect that multiple people are using the same Social Security number, but the agency doesn't investigate ID theft. Local police and prosecutors cannot deport illegal immigrants they arrest.

"I feel like nobody's listening," said Bien, 23, of Ottawa, Kan. "If this can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And if we don't do something about it now, what's going to happen in 10 years?"

Federal estimates indicate that nearly 10 million Americans become victims of identity theft each year. Officials can't say how many of those identities are being used by illegal workers, but prosecutors in Kansas say they see more cases of illegal immigrants using fake credentials every year.

It mirrors an increase in overall cases related to illegal immigration. The Kansas U.S. attorney's office received 18 such cases in 1997; in 2007, the number was 106.

Experts expect the trend to continue, and they're finding ID theft in surprising places. Last fall, U.S. prosecutors in Missouri charged five noncitizens with ID theft after they were found working in the Kansas City Federal Building's cafeteria.

"We know there are thousands and thousands of people working here who aren't even supposed to be here," said Brent Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney for Kansas. "There is rampant ID theft going on ... and I'm afraid that given the situation we're in right now, this is just the beginning."

Bien doesn't know how someone gained access to her information, but experts say it can happen in several ways.

Hackers steal databases. Workers with access to records sell them illegally. Sometimes, it's as simple as someone rifling through your mail or garbage for sensitive documents.

And illegal immigrants are hardly the only perpetrators. Americans avoiding warrants or child support payments steal identities, too. Scam artists use the information to drain bank accounts or get credit cards.

After her identity was stolen, Linda Foley founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center. She said identities can be bought for as little as $30 or much more for quality counterfeits. Often, as in Bien's case, the same identity is sold multiple times.

"Thirty dollars - that's how much your good name is worth," she said. "And if you're going to counterfeit a document, it's as easy to make five copies and sell all of them."

Judy Ancel, director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Labor Studies, said it's wrong to compare immigrant workers to criminals who take out fraudulent credit cards.

"Identity theft is when you steal someone's identity in order to profit from them," she said. "The crime they (illegal immigrants with fake identities) have committed is working under somebody else's Social Security number. The attempt to criminalize immigration is the wrong path. ... It's just going to make a bunch of families suffer."

Once, a made-up name and Social Security number were enough to get a job. But as employers became more diligent, the demand has grown for real identities that can pass database checks.

Children and the elderly, who are less likely to work or watch credit scores, are especially susceptible, Foley said. When Utah officials checked a list of children on welfare against tax rolls, they found that 1,800 children, all under 13, were listed as working.

Bien, a wife and mother, is completing her student teaching, but had to delay her credentialing when she applied for a new Social Security number. She's lost sleep, and she worries that even more people are using her identity.

Still, she's fortunate: Many victims don't learn of the crime until their credit score drops or a loan is denied. In one recent Kansas case, a man found out when he was arrested for a crime committed by an illegal immigrant using his identity.

After Bien discovered the ID theft, she and her mother drove to De Soto to find the Engineered Air plant. When they asked a sheriff's deputy for directions, he said he had arrested an illegal immigrant there a week before.

The deputy followed Bien to the plant, where he arrested Rocio Diaz Cano, the woman allegedly claiming to be Amanda Bien. Cano pleaded not guilty last week.

Her attorney, James Conard, said he's handled 10 or 12 similar cases, and said roughly 85 percent of his business is now Spanish-speaking. He said he sympathizes with Bien and said she's a victim of the government's tacit acceptance of illegal immigration.

"I think the federal government is in cahoots with this whole problem," he said.

Conard noted one example of the mixed messages: Probation, which his client is likely to receive if convicted, often requires the person to stay employed, which illegal immigrants cannot do.

Engineered Air President Ric Rambacher said his company follows all employment laws and checks applicants against a federal database of legal workers. But that system doesn't catch ID thieves.

Bien would like to see ID thieves charged with federal crimes. She believes federal authorities could push for greater sentences, and be more likely to start deportation proceedings.

Yet so far, her thieves in other states haven't been charged, even though Bien has given information to local and federal authorities.

Prosecutors say the decision to file charges and deport comes down to manpower, resources and evidence. When local police make an arrest, the case often falls to the county prosecutor. Federal authorities say they must focus on the most serious crimes.

"Like all law enforcement agencies, we prioritize," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts. "We have finite resources."

Johnson County, Kan., District Attorney Phill Kline, whose office is prosecuting Cano, agreed that federal agencies often lack the manpower to take on lesser cases. When Kline was state attorney general, he said, his office helped U.S. authorities in a checkpoint where three vans of illegal immigrants were stopped. Immigration officials arrested those in one van, but had to release the others.

Deportation, too, is a federal matter. And ID thieves prosecuted locally are likely to get probation if they have no prior record.

"You can have an illegal (immigrant) commit a felony with presumptive probation and they'll be right back on the street and not deported," Kline said. "We're left with no options."

Kline has made it his policy not to offer diversion to illegal immigrants. Diversion is when a suspect in a low-level crime can avoid a conviction through restitution and community service.

Foley, from the Identity Theft Resource Center, said federal authorities must do more. Too often, she said, agencies don't even share data that could pinpoint ID theft.

"There is no universal database. Who's going to collect it? The IRS is there to find out who isn't paying their taxes, not to look for ID theft," she said. "Create a new universal database and suddenly you've created a new target for ID theft."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/23/20080423identity-theft0423-ON.html