Accused of I.D. Theft (Scared to Death!)

Hello,

A Postal Insp. asked me to come into her office to chat about I.D. theft which I did because I thought it was about my I.D. theft problem I had a couple of years ago.

To my TOTAL shock....

Here's what they said:

1. That they had a stack of credit card applications in different names going to an address (an apt. complex) where I lived 1 1/2 years ago.

2. That they could trace the applications to my home computer.

3. That they were all in the names of students where I work (but none were my students save one four years ago)

4. They asked me to explain, confess, come clean, that they would "work with me," etc.

I DID receive mail that wasn't addressed to me several times (not to any of my students or that would have freaked me out) and sent it back or tore and threw the rest away.

I asked that my mailbox lock be changed. It was and the mail stopped.

Most importantly...teachers don't have access to ANY personal information on students! We can access their name, address, emergency contact number and demographics...along with test scores and the like. Student's aren't are NEVER asked to give out their SS#. The county issues them Student I.D. #s. I told them this repeatedly and asked them to check it out if they wanted to...even to verify that these kids were not my students.

When I couldn't explain but told them all of the above, they said "well, these went to YOUR address and from your home computer and were students at your school!"

I asked if I was being accused and she didn't answer, she just repeated the same thing and asked me to explain. When I couldn't, she said it was "suspicious." And THAT word freaked me out so, I asked to speak to an attorney and they let me walk out, very nicely and told me to come back with my atty. when I wanted to and chat with them again. They didn't show me any of the applications, didn't say if any cc were issued or used, shoped with...nothing!

Obviously, I've hired an attorney who faxed off a letter immediately (teacher for 12 years, impeccable record, where's the evidence, etc. and asked them to have no further contact with me. Only through him.)

He assured me they were just responding to a "red flag" from a credit card company and were probably just fishing - nothing more. However, teaching is my life. My passion. Furthermore, students live were I lived so do other teachers. Even my maintenance man's son (who I like very much and I'm not accusing) lives there and goes to that school.

Question is...HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED W/O MY KNOWLEDGE? Why did these cc companies respond to so many applications to the same address? Why wouldn't they call me to confirm information? Send me a letter asking if these individuals lived there? And had applied for credit? I'm COMPLETELY baffled and I'm scared. A "shadow" of suspicion in my line of work is akin to a death knell! I haven't stopped crying for three days!

Anyone have any advice? Has gone through anything similar? Have any expertise on how i.d. thieves can do this and someone else gets blamed? PLEASE HELP!!!

That is very scary! I will bump this up in hopes of someone else coming along who can help!

Thank you so much, Frogpatch!!!!

It all sounds very fishy to me, I'm glad you obtained an attorney though. I've never had anything of this nature happen to me, nor do I know anyone who has. I'm surprised the postal service used this method to question you, and under who's authority did this postal inspector question you in this manner. Sounds almost like they have been watching too much CSI. Then again, I have no clue what the protocol is, I would be finding out though for future reference.

Hi Shazzers,

Well, they are an arm of law enforcement. However, I felt they wanted me to explain something they couldn't explain either! I'm heartsick...

I can't even imagine how you feel, it's really too bad you're being accused of something you have absolutely nothing to do with, simply because of an address. I hope your attorney can and will get to the bottom of this.

Hopefully your attonrney can figure this one out. There was probably some sick individuals involved in a scheme, possibly some kind of computer hacking or something. Sounds like maybe somebody had access to your mailbox as well. People are capeable of doing some crazy things right underneath our noses and we won't even know it. Sorry this happend to you and I hope everything gets straightned out.

Thanks, Shazzers & PinkLady:

My attorney says I should hear from him by week's end with a favorable outcome. He's convinced the authorities were "fishing" for information or they would have taken my computer, shown me whatever evidence they have, etc. Again, I think they were looking for an explanation for something they themselves couldn't explain. The more I research, the more I realize I was my own worst enemy. It's not enough to change the lock on your mailbox. I should have reported the repeatedly open mailbox, and the correspondence I'd received in other people's names to the authorities. Its also apparently against the law to throw away mail - even if its not yours - no matter how frustrated you get. Word to the wise: RETURN ALL MAIL NOT ADDRESSED TO YOU TO THE POST OFFICE!

I hope things get straightened out for you. Did you find out how they came up with the info that the apps came through your home computer?

Guest, I am glad that you did get some money from what was owed to you. In this case, there was money owed,thousands, from years ago, that was not paid. When he went on SSI,there was a court order, he did go to court, and taht is where we learned that SSI cannot be garnished. Even the thousands he got from back pay on disability cannot,so maybe it differs from state to state.
I agrees Bossy but why is "disability" do you think now including "drug addicts"? Both father and mother as has truely been proven in this post?-The children should be taken away from both parents ...and the foster psrents who raise these "forgotten children" should be given the "PROPS" I>E____{"not providers who do not care but keep having more kids to get more money still keep doing????)

bossy howz did they get that info on you? they ae ruthlesss of course!!!!


Wrong thread, perhaps?...... - Uncle Wulf

Sheila, any updates?

I can offer a plausible scenario here, Karen.

First, a little geek-speak about Internet addressing. There are two kinds of addresses that are used to route traffic on the Internet. First, there's the Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is usually assigned by your ISP. That serves to identify the device on the other end of the ISP's wire. That device could be a PC, a router, or any of a number of other things. Second, there's the Media Access Control (MAC) address. The MAC address is physically 'burned' into a chip in your network adapter, modem, or whatever. It serves to identify which specific machine on a given network a packet (think a glob of data here) is supposed to go to, but it's generally not logged. Now, both of these addresses are unique in the entire world.

Still with me? Good....

Any Web server makes a record of the IP address of any client machine that connects to it, as would be the case when your browser requests a Web page. These records of IP adresses are normally kept, and used to determine certain statistical information about site visitors. It should go without saying that financial, CC, and ecommerce sites keep these logs. The interesting bit, is that when you connect through a router (think DSL or cable here), the Web server sees the IP address of the router, not the address of your PC. The router recieves the packet from the Internet, re-addresses it, and forwards it to your PC. But for any PC on your home network, the Web server sees only the IP address of the router.

Now, let me postulate an all too common scenario. A person (maybe Sheila) lives in an apartment complex or other area where people are close together. She signs up for cable/DSL, connects the modem (actually, it's almost always a router, especially if wireless is involved) and wires in the self-install kit according to the overly simplistic directions provided, and promptly forgets about it.

Facts about most of those cable/DSL 'modems':

1 - Most are actually integrated units containing a modem, router, and often a switch. That's certainly the case if you have wireless and/or multiple Ethernet ports out.

2 - Wireless is usually enabled by default on these units.

3 - 'Advanced settings', like wireless security and encryption, are usually hidden from the customer, unless she goes in search of them. Unless the customer seeks out and applies those settings, there is no security on that wireless network.

4 - The range of your typical wifi connectionis on the order of 50-100 yards under normal circumstances. Up to a mile or more using special equipment.

It's wicked simple for anybody in range to log onto an unsecured network. Your average 12-year-old could handle it.

Now, just imagine there's somebody in another apartment who's up to no good. Opening his wireless network list, he spots an unsecured network. He doesn't know whose it is, and probably doesn't care. He logs into it from his wireless laptop and sets out to surf the Web at somebody else's expense (this is a Federal crime, BTW). Anything he does while he's online looks like it came from the legitimate users on that network, because that's the IP address the server logged for the page requests.

that is so weird, any updates? i am sorry this is happening to you. it seems so weird that a postal person asked this?? i do not think they are within law enforcement like that (i work in law enforcement). it seems like a scam or something, i don't know.. did you ever speak to the acutal cops?
it is good you have spoken up to people about this, i have gotten in trouble with mailed sent to wrong address recently, too. someone changed their address as mine for whatever reason and now the electric company, cable company try to combine his bill with mine (and a phone company, i do not even have a landline anymore!) the cops also came by because this person has a warrant and said i was hiding him! i have no idea who this guy is or why he picked my address (i mean right to the apartment number!).
i did send mail back and called the post office but if i did it sooner a lot of this would have been prevented.
on a similar note, i also know someone who was arresed because they had a bench warrant from a court date that they never recieved because the notice was sent to the wrong house and that person never sent it back.

Bea, the UJS Postal Inspection Service is federal law enforcement, complete with badges, guns, and all the other accoutrements. They have jurisdiction in violations of a range of federal codes, where such violation affects or uses the mail or postal system. Learn more here.

thanks for the info, unc! i kept thinking of the mail man lol. i mean i knew they are federal employees but it did not make sense to me! but it is all clear now
the whole situation is so scary, i hope the poster keeps us updated..

The U.S. Post Marshals have a lot of power. As Unclewulf stated they are federal which puts the crime at an elevated level out of the states hands. They are involved any time a crime is committed involving mail fraud even if only a portion of the crime involved the mail. For example, in this case most of the work involved was stealing information electronically but sending in a credit card application gives the post marshals a foot in the door so to speak. I would suggest using a good attorney and one that understands computer networking and the internet because in my experience the U.S. Post Marshals do not understand those technical workings and they may overlook and/or ignore obvious evidence that proves you were not involved.