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The Amphetamine Connection

How Meth is Driving the Identity Theft Pandemic

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 19, 2007

• How Meth is Driving the Identity Theft Pandemic • Types of Identity Theft • What Can You Do? • Fast Facts about Methamphetamine --- • More about Identity Theft

How does a driver's license stolen from a St. Louis, Missouri, man end up in a cheap motel room hundreds of miles away?

That's a question that initially baffled investigators when they found the ID in the Merriam, Kansas, flophouse.

But it didn't take long for police to solve the mystery once they learned the motel room doubled as an identity theft laboratory -- filled with computers, scanners, printers, and dozens of stolen ID's -- and the masterminds behind the operation were methamphetamine addicts.

"There's a close link between methamphetamine use and identity theft," says Prosecutor Vanessa Riebli, head of the Johnson County, Kansas, District Attorney's Economic Crime Unit. "ID's are traded or sold for drugs across the country, and drug users are supporting their habit with identity theft."

And they're making good money. The husband-wife team involved in the Merriam, Kansas case netted $60,000-$100,000 in their scheme, Riebli says.

"Identity theft is so much more profitable than other crimes," she says, adding the husband made the phony checks and the wife passed them using the fake ID's. "And if the defendants get caught, they know the penalties for identity theft are less severe than other crimes."

Riebli charged the couple involved in this 2003 case with identity theft, but neither served much time behind bars. Thirty-seven-year-old Owen Samuel Barlow, a former computer programmer at Sprint, received a two-year sentence. His wife -- 41-year-old accountant Teresa A. Barlow -- received an 18-month sentence.

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Riebli says this case illustrates why methamphetamine addicts have turned to identity theft -- the fastest growing crime in the country -- to support their habits.

"Why would you rob a bank when you can walk inside a bank, commit check fraud, get more money, and -- if you get caught -- receive a much less severe penalty?"

100% Free Financing

Owen & Theresa Barlow Source: Kansas Department of Corrections

Detective Byron Pierce of the Overland Park, Kansas, Police Department has investigated scores of identity theft cases.

And he's noticed a sharp increase in the number of methamphetamine users stealing or assuming someone else's identity to finance their addictions, which can cost hundreds of dollars a day.

"When our officers bust meth labs, they're seeing stolen personal information like credit cards, driver's licenses, Social Security cards, checkbooks, employee ID's," says the veteran detective with the department's Financial Crime Unit.

"There's a direct correlation between drugs and fraud. When drugs are involved, fraud is involved. When fraud is involved, drugs are involved. The two are almost synonymous. And there's no question that there's a correlation between methamphetamine use and identity theft," he said.

What's the driving force behind this criminal phenomenon?

"Identity theft is 100 percent free financing for their drugs," Pierce says. "When you finance your drugs with other peoples' personal information, there's no risk associated with buying any amount of drugs because it's not affecting your bottom line.

"Identity theft is also an easy crime to commit, and if you get caught the penalties are less severe than those associated with other crimes," he adds. "The people involved in these crimes know that. Everyone talks ... there's a lot of collaboration and they'll say 'that's a good idea, let's try it.'"

"Time to plot out a plan to get money"

Methamphetamine addicts are also excellent candidates to commit identity theft because of the effects the drug has on their systems, medical experts say.

A meth user, for example, can stay awake for days and do such repetitive tasks as piecing together shredded documents or testing credit card numbers to buy merchandise online.

"These users can be up for days and that gives them time to plot out a plan to get money," says Jim Philipps with the National Association of Counties. His organization studied the criminal effects methamphetamine has on communities. "They'll come up with ways to get money ... usually by stealing mail or credit cards."

Twin Scourges Intertwine

Law enforcement officials say the connection between methamphetamines and identity theft has become a nationwide problem -- one that started in the West and is rapidly moving across the country.

Consider:

• Two Oxford, Georgia, women who ran an identity theft scheme pleaded guilty in November 2006, to possession of stolen mail. The women confessed they dealt methamphetamines and their customers paid them with stolen mail. The women would then use the financial information in the stolen mail -- including paychecks, credit cards, and bank statements -- to commit identity theft. "This case demonstrates that the twin scourges of meth and identity theft often intertwine -- multiplying their damaging effects on the public, since one crime is used to fuel the other," said United States Attorney David E. Nahmias.

• Postal inspections in 2005 tracked down an Arizona woman -- who had eluded them for than a year -- in a Phoenix apartment. Investigators found personal information belonging to 400 potential identity theft victims, a stash of methamphetamine in the kitchen, and merchandise purchased with stolen credit cards.

• The San Diego, California, District Attorney's Office reported that cases involving methamphetamine and identity theft jumped 35 percent from 2002-2005. Law enforcement officials in San Diego also noted that 75 percent of the suspects in local identity theft cases showed evidence of methamphetamine abuse. San Diego officials called the connection between meth and identity theft "a clear danger to both the public and business community."

• In 2006, The National Association of Counties examined the criminal effect of methamphetamine on communities. Of the 500 sheriffs who responded to the survey, 31 percent reported an increase in identity theft-methamphetamine related crimes.

One of the sheriffs who participated in that study is Patrick Hedges of San Luis Obispo, California.

"Our experience with meth users is that they often steal mail," he says. "There are people who go around almost every night and look for mailboxes that have the flags up. They take the mail and if they find checks, they'll doctor them and make the checks payable to themselves. Or they'll apply for a credit card using the stolen information."

He adds: "These meth users are usually people on the street who have to support their habit. They're the ones who lift mail, get involved in stolen checks and credit cards, or copy down someone's personal information at a restaurant or gas station. They're involved in less risky types than someone on heroin."

"A Wave of Identity Theft

This growing methamphetamine-identity theft problem has captured the attention of U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, (D-Wash.).

In 2005, Cantwell introduced a bill that asked the Justice Department to investigate the link between ID theft and methamphetamine use. The measure was referred to the Judiciary Committee, but never came up. Cantwell's office says the senator plans to reintroduce the bill this year.

When she introduced the measure in 2005, Cantwell said: "The meth epidemic is creating a wave of identity theft."

Her bill has the support of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

"In recent years, we've seen the number of meth labs seized and reports of identity theft shoot up," Feinstein said in 2005. "Law enforcement officials are reporting that this is not just a coincidence. These two crimes can turn people's lives upside down and threaten entire communities. It's time to take a closer look at the connection between meth use and identity theft."

Identity Theft Capital

One of the hotbeds of identity theft in the country -- and a state where methamphetamine is widespread -- is Arizona.

The Federal Trade Commission in 2006 even named the Grand Canyon State the identity theft capital of the United States. The FTC reported Arizona had 156.9 identity theft victims per 100,000 people.

U.S. Postal Inspector Bob Maes says there's a good chance the criminals who stole those victims' identities were hooked on meth.

"In the West it seems like methamphetamine abuse runs hand-in-hand with identity theft," says Maes, who worked in Phoenix until 2004 and then transferred to Utah. "These meth addicts all know someone who will trade drugs for Social Security numbers. One meth addict will know someone who does dumpster diving, one knows someone who steals mail, and another knows someone who is into home burglaries.

"The issue is not the ID, it's the date of birth, Social Security, or identification number on that ID," he adds. "That's what they want. And when you talk to these meth users, they'll know the going rate for a checkbook or a credit card."

Detective Pierce with the Overland Park Police Department says a good ID in Kansas has a street value of $100-$500.

But some ID's go for much more.

"I've learned through interviews with people I've arrested that these guys love checkbooks with Ph.D, CEO, or doctor on the checks. The ID's of a Ph.D. or doctor is much higher and worth a lot more on the street."

Pierce and other law enforcement officials say methamphetamine users will stop at nothing to get someone's ID and other personal information.

"What we're finding is these meth users are committing burglaries themselves and looking for personal data and information they can turn into something usable," Pierce says.

But there are other unsuspecting ways methamphetamine users can obtain your personal information to support their drug habits:

• A clerk at a bank, retail store, or dry cleaner can write down your personal information or credit card number. "We've had cases where a clerk at a convenience store wrote down information from checks and then turned around and sold that information," says Postal Inspector Maes.

• A waiter or waitress can scan your credit card -- or write down the numbers -- and sell the information. "When you give your credit card to waiter you don't know what happens to it," says Sheriff Hedges of San Luis Obispo.

• Files can be stolen from your investment company. "Many times this happens by an insider who works for a financial institution and is a drug addict," Maes says.

• Employees of painting or cleaning companies -- working after the businesses close -- can steal client information. "They can steal a few files and no one will know they're missing until the information is compromised," Maes says.

Consumers are also "asking for trouble" if they leave birth certificates, checkbooks, saving accounts information, Social Security cards, and other personal information in an unlocked car or home, Maes says.

The Underground Market

If your identity is stolen, law enforcement officials say, you're likely to be victimized again -- in many cases by another methamphetamine user.

"There's an underground market where your information is traded and bartered all over streets and maybe all over the country," says detective Pierce. "Remember, this is 100 percent free financing for these methamphetamine users. The drugs are free when they buy them and they're free when they sell them."

Prosecutor Riebli of Johnson County, Kansas, agrees.

"If you've had your identity compromised, it can happen again and again," she says. "There's nothing to prevent these individuals from trading ID's for their drugs."

That means your stolen identity could wind up in some cheap motel room and be used to finance another meth-head's addiction.

Next: Types of Identity Theft

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