Authorities say most customers are illegal immigrants
Mary Richards & Sandra Yi
This week, the Utah Attorney General’s Office will send out 100 letters to Utahns whose social security numbers may have been compromised. They are the first in the country, to do this. Utah authorities call it a moral obligation.
Some 20,000 Utahns have been identified as victims. Most of them don’t even know their identity has been stolen; so many people will be surprised to get one of these letters in their mailbox.
A series of Eyewitness News investigations exposed the fastest growing crime in Utah, and the pace has yet to slow down. Chief Deputy of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Kirk Torgensen, says identity theft is a huge problem. Authorities say thieves are targeting adults as well as children. Torgensen says, “The problem with children is nobody ever thinks of looking at their kids’ credit report because there shouldn’t be any credit report.”In 2004, Eyewitness News went undercover and exposed just how easy it is to buy a social security card. Authorities say most customers are illegal immigrants, who need one to work. “They’re just spinning out a number and if it’s your bad luck that your number got spun out and put on a card, then that’s how your social security number gets compromised,” Torgensen says.
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