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A Berkeley woman went shopping for a new car recently and learned that someone had stolen her identity. 

She couldn’t buy the car because a thief had applied for a credit card in her name and charged a significant number of purchases in her name – purchases which remained unpaid. The victim reported the crime to police and notified the company that issued the card, but clearing the blemish on her credit report would take time. 

In the first step of another scam that began with thieves in two Solano Avenue businesses, the suspects stole wallets or purses, and then called the victims several hours later. Pretending to be police officers or bank employees, the thieves requested the victim’s personal banking information. 

More stolen identities. 

The varieties of identity fraud are numerous, and the results can be devastating, said Detective Evan D. McWilliams of the Berkeley Police Department. People have been evicted from their homes because their funds are drained, he said. 

The crime of Identity fraud or using an individual’s name to obtain goods or services or to open up a credit card is “booming,” said McWilliams. 

Berkeley has seen a 150 percent increase in identity fraud since 1997, he said. The department averages about 20 cases every month, but it happens everywhere. 

“This crime is probably the fastest growing crime in the country”’ said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “It’s of epidemic proportions.” 

“This crime is so prevalent because the credit industry makes it too easy for the criminals to assume somebody else’s identity and obtain credit.” 

Givens suggests major credit industry reform as well as increasing law enforcement efforts. She also said the crime should be prosecuted much more vigorously by district attorneys than it is now. 

McWilliams believes the numbers are rising here because more people are reporting the crime to Berkeley police, but also because access to the Internet makes it easier to “steal” another person’s identity. 

He said victims of identity fraud should report the crime immediately to the Berkeley police – at any time during the week – when they “see something funny on their credit cards.” 

He said banks want to see a police report before they begin an investigation to determine the legitimacy of the claim. 

An unwritten law in current Identity theft investigations, he said, is that each law enforcement jurisdiction in Alameda County, such as Berkeley, takes only the cases in its district. “Identity theft can be done anywhere, but it is reported locally.” 

However, McWilliams said, if goods are sent to Oakland, for instance, then the Oakland Police Department would investigate the crime. 

The success of the investigation depends upon the amount of information the victim can obtain. 

“The main point is to prevent future damage,” he said. 

McWilliams explained that the suspect is using the victim’s name and police have to show that the suspect received the stolen goods, and that the suspect signed for them using the victim’s name. 

“This crime is politically hot now,” and McWilliams said President Clinton has held a summit conference on identity theft and Attorney General Reno has addressed it. 

In California, he said, there are 23 bills pending in the state legislature regarding identity fraud. 

McWilliams said Berkeley Police are working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in developing a training course for police investigation cases of identity fraud. 

The 13,000-member Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which provides police service for unincorporated portions of Los Angeles County, is a leader in identity theft investigations. Currently the L.A. Sheriffs are sponsoring legislation proposed by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg that would fund Northern and Southern California regional teams to deal with identity theft. 

Detective Joe Dulla of the L.A. Sheriff’s Dept., who is developing a police training course on a team that includes Berkeley Detective Todd Sabins, said police want to attack identity theft on a regional level. 

If the victim lives in Berkeley, Dulla said, but the suspect committed the crime outside Alameda County, police don’t want the suspect to slip through loopholes. 

“We have found multi-agency response to this issue very successful,” he said. 

Dulla said the legal system is increasing its efforts to aid victims of identity fraud. Prior to Jan. 1, 1998, only financial institutions could be victims of this crime, he said. 

At that time State Statute 530.5 of the penal code was enacted. The law gives the person whose identity was stolen legal standing as a victim. Dulla said the L.A. Sheriff’s response to identity theft is similar to its response to domestic violence in terms of outreach. 

The curriculum for the identity theft training course being prepared for the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training is being written in large part by Berkeley Property Crimes Detective Todd Sabins. 

He said the POST curriculum would be used throughout the state to train investigators new to the field of identity theft. It will include victim issues, computer evidence and law and prosecutorial concerns. The POST course is designed to illustrate the magnitude of the problem, to deal with multi-agency networks, It also touches on the problem of how technology is facilitating identity theft because of the lack of security standards, he said. 

Sabins said he is consulting with police agencies throughout the state to gather information. 

“We are setting the standard for this kind of investigation,” he said.