Man admits to ID theft

[dkpen]

Published - February, 7, 2007

Man admits to ID theft


Thyrie Bland
tbland@pnj.com

Keith Alan Joiner of Pensacola says he may be addicted to pornography.

The 22-year-old made the admission to police when he also confessed to
stealing a woman's debit card number and racking up more than $1,300 in charges visiting pornographic Web sites, according to a Pensacola police arrest report.

Joiner also admitted to stealing credit information from other people while
employed as a call-taker at the West Corporation in Pensacola, the report
said.

As a West employee, Joiner took calls from Cingular Wireless customers.

Joiner was arrested Jan. 29 on fraudulent use of a credit card and criminal use of personal identification charges. He posted a $3,000 bond the same day.

Police also found credit card numbers belonging to six other people in a
closet at Joiner's apartment on Hyacinth Drive. No charges have been filed in those cases, but police are still investigating.

Identify-theft cases are a growing problem. In 2005, the Federal Trade
Commission received more than 685,000 fraud and identity theft complaints.

Last year in Florida, there were 17,048 identity-theft victims or 95.8
victims per 100,000 people. The state ranked sixth in victims per 100,000.

The best advice Pensacola Assistant Police Chief Chip Simmons said he could give people was to "check and recheck" their credit and debit card
statements.

"Don't just assume it's going to be right," Simmons said.

Pensacola police began investigating Joiner in December after Lafayette,
La., police called about unauthorized charges appearing on a woman's debit card. Lafayette police believed the woman's debit card information had been stolen in Pensacola.

Linda Blackwell paid her Cingular bill over the phone Oct. 7 and soon after noticed unauthorized charges on her debit card account, the police report said.

Chris McBrayer, a Pensacola police investigator, later learned Joiner had
accepted Blackwell's payment, the arrest report shows.

"Linda gave all her updated personal information to Keith Joiner," the
report states, including her new address and the security code on the back of her debit card. "Nobody else was given that information."

Joiner no longer is employed at West. He was fired for a reason unrelated to his arrest, said Dave Pleiss, vice president of investor and public
relations at West headquarters in Omaha, Neb.

Normally, there is no reason for a West employee in Pensacola to ask for a customer's debit card number, he said. Since mid-December, employees no longer ask for credit card information at the Cingular Wireless billing center.

West has precautions to protect consumers against identity theft, including limiting how much employees can write on paper while taking calls. Also, supervisors regularly monitor employees as they are taking calls, he said.

News Journal staff writer Ann Thrower contributed to this report.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702070338

[nonesuche]

My identity theft began at Sprint and I'm not even a Sprint customer, so it appears these telecoms sure employ savory characters, perhaps we need to press on our legislators to ensure NO employee at any telecom has access to full credit card info in the future?

[2NJSons_Mom]

My MIL had OnStar installed in her car and SIL paid for renewal for phone in case of emergency. (MIL is 81 now, but this happened a few years back).  She called to renew & used her ATM as credit.  Subsequently, 2 OnStar employees, were found to have stolen her identity using her card #.  MIL canceled OnStar & made sure to tell all of us to be wary.  

If you recall temporary employees hired for the Red Cross after Katrina (out in CA, somewhere) did same...stole funds intended for victims.  

It's very sad....it would be a perfect world if everyone could be trusted, especially if they work for big name corporations.  Screening for honesty is a big challenge in the HR world.  I, personally, have dealt with interviews and questioning for integrity, but there is no fool proof way to do it....jmho