State: State grand jury embraces Crist's hotline idea

TALLAHASSEE -- A week after Education Commissioner Charlie Crist won a hard-fought election for attorney general, Florida's Statewide Grand Jury has endorsed one of Crist's campaign ideas.

In a report released Wednesday, the grand jury said it likes Crist's idea of establishing a statewide identity theft hotline.

Gov. Jeb Bush empaneled the grand jury in July 2001 to investigate complex identity theft schemes operating in more than one area of the state. During the investigation, the jury and statewide prosecutors charged 127 people in 1,180 cases of identity theft involving the theft of more than $2-million.

"I'm flattered, and I still think it's a great idea," Crist said when told of the report. "I compliment them on their wisdom."

During his campaign, Crist proposed the creation of a hotline for fraud and identity theft and says he will focus on consumer fraud during his tenure.

The grand jury report urged consumers and merchants to be more cautious than ever. Law enforcement should be more responsive and government more willing to provide security of personal information as a service to citizens, the jury said.

The jury expressed "grave concern" for Floridians, saying thieves use personal identifying information from checking accounts, credit cards, cell phones and other services to take over a person's identity. Electronic financial transactions have made it easier for identity thieves to steal money without personal interaction and at speeds previously unknown, the jury noted.

Technological advances in recent years enable the identity thief to hack into computer databases and obtain personal information on a large scale, but thieves also profit from personal paperwork and mail tossed in the trash, the jury said.

"Another popular method is 'shoulder surfing' where the identity thief stands next to someone at a public office, such as the driver's license or tag office, and watches as personal information is recorded on forms."

One "truly despicable" method of identity theft occurs when a thief reads the obituaries and calls a funeral home to confirm a dead person's Social Security number, jurors found.

The jury reported troubling accounts from victims who had difficulty getting local law enforcement to take a report in suspected identity theft cases. That's important because most consumer credit organizations accept police reports as preliminary evidence of fraud and will immediately block the reporting of fraud-related entries from credit histories.

The jury recommended making Florida driver's licenses tamper proof, an end to the sale or release of Social Security numbers and faster updating of Social Security's master death index.

Sept. 11, 2001, has made residents more aware of the dangers of identity theft, jurors added.

Crist of St. Petersburg defeated Sen. Buddy Dyer, D-Orlando, in last week's general election and will take office as attorney general on Jan. 7.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk