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"Someday most households in the state will have this number," state Attorney General Charlie Crist says.
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 17, 2003
TAMPA -- Winifred Acosta is a lawyer. A prosecutor with the Florida Attorney General's office, in fact.
But that didn't prevent her from becoming a victim of identity theft four years ago.
A man who lived in Acosta's apartment complex stole her mail, obtained credit cards in her name and charged a fortune.
"I immediately thought that someone was playing a joke on me," said Acosta, who lives and works in Jacksonville.
On Thursday, Acosta's boss -- Attorney General Charlie Crist -- stopped in Tampa to talk about the growing problem of identity theft. He recently started a toll-free fraud hotline to report fraud and identity theft.
"We work our entire lives to establish our good name and good credit," Crist said.
The new hotline opened last week, staffed by three full-time employees of the Attorney General's office. As of Thursday morning, it had received 815 calls, Crist said.
The hotline will help victims of identity theft call their local law enforcement authorities to file a police report. A victim's advocate also will assist in contacting the credit reporing agencies and closing any accounts in question.
Not all of the hotline callers have reported identity fraud, he said. Some have reported other kinds of fraud or business scams.
"We envision that someday most households in the state will have this number," he said.
Crist warned against giving personal information -- such as Social Security numbers or bank account information -- to anyone you don't know. Also, don't give that information over the phone; identity thieves often pose as bank officials.
Each year, about 1.5-million people in the United States are victims of identity theft.
-- Tamara Lush can be reached at (813) 226-3373 or at lush@sptimes.com.
If you are a victim of identity theft -- or would like to report another business or financial scam -- call the new toll-free hotline set up by the Attorney General's office. The number is 1-866-9-NO SCAM (1-866-966-7226).