Stolen identity? Take a number

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Let's say you see some unusual activity on your credit card statement. You know you've never been to Aspen, Colo. You don't even ski.

Turns out your identity has been stolen, and you won't be alone, because Nevada is second in the nation behind only Arizona for the crime, with 120 cases for every 100,000 residents.

Luckily, Nevada also is one of about 10 states nationwide with a program for identity theft victims to clear their name with businesses and police.

Unfortunately, 1 1/2 years into the program, about 300 people have applied, but not a single one has gotten any results.

The problem, said Dale Liebherr, chief investigator for the Nevada attorney general and part-time director of the state identity theft passport program, is a lack of money.

"It's an unfunded mandate," Liebherr said of the program, created by the 2005 Legislature and launched in January 2006.

Jay Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a California-based nonprofit organization, said the program's history to date may be an example of the proverb "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

"They've got the right idea, but haven't gotten around to making it work," he said.

Other states don't seem to have the same problem.

Of eight states with programs similar to Nevada's, an examination of three showed quick turnover rates and success in completing applications ranging from 42 percent to 80 percent.

Nevada's goal is that victims, between four and six weeks after the theft is reported, get a card they can show anyone from police to bankers, establishing who they are and that their identity has been stolen.

But that goal remains elusive.

Liebherr, though, said he thinks Nevada still is "doing pretty darn good" given the budget to date: "$25,000, period."

In the past few months, he said, the attorney general has written rules for the program, obtained computer equipment to bring it online and streamlined protocol, taking some of the steps out of the hands of local law enforcement. Applicants first make a complaint to police and then apply to the program.

Liebherr has been telling all who apply for the card to be patient, although he hopes the pace will begin to pick up soon.

"We have been explaining to folks that the program is not in full effect," he said.

Corrine Vaughan, director of Virginia's victim notification program, which includes that state's identity theft passport program, said she had not heard of other states taking so long to get their programs off the ground.

Virginia became the first state with such a program in July 2002. Since then, 407 people have applied to the program and 196 have received their cards - a success rate of 48 percent. The average turnover time is a month, Vaughan said.

Wendi Faulkner, manager of the identity theft unit for Ohio's attorney general, said her program began in December 2004 and issued its first card two months later.

Since then, the program has been busy, with 1,267 applications, 1,010 of which have been completed. The Ohio program requires applicants to call and activate their cards, sort of like a new credit card. So far, 877 of the 1,010 applicants who have received cards have called to activate them, Faulkner said.

None of the programs elsewhere has a budget for getting the word out and each relies instead on staff members speaking to community organizations and other public agencies. (Some other states' programs are part of departments' overall budgets, making it difficult to determine precisely how much is being spent on their identity theft plans alone.)

Liebherr said his agency has not worked hard at publicizing Nevada's program , because it is working out the bugs. But Nevada's high numbers for identity theft seem to indicate a need for the program.

"Once this hits the street and we're up and running ... it will be like opening the floodgate," Liebherr said. Then, he said, "Next legislative session, hopefully we can have some numbers and apply for more money."

And until then?

"I hate to say this, but good things come in time."