Civic leader keeps her cool in wake of identity theft
September 14, 2011
By Sebastian Moraga
Her poker face has become a staple of Snoqualmie Valley School Board meetings. Rarely cracking a smile, but rarely losing her cool, either.
So when she learned her identity had been stolen in California, Caroline Loudenback did what she’s been known to do. She stayed calm and went to work.
“I took charge,” she said. “I immediately picked up the phone.”
Caroline Loudenback
Someone had tried to open an account and failed at a department store, which then alerted her. By that time, the thief or thieves had already hit her up for thousand of dollars in clothes at other stores.
Once she started making phone calls, she realized the irony of having to correct identity theft by sharing every important piece of data about her with people she could not see.
“When you’re fighting this, I can’t tell you how many times you have to give out your birthday, your social security number,” she said. “It’s amazing. And then they want you to put stuff in the mail.”
She also realized the immensity of the crime. She had to dispute every purchase at every store the identity thief had stopped at, and she had to alert the credit bureaus, so the purchases would not hurt her credit score.
“I think they’re shut down at this point,” of the person or persons who stole her identity, she said.
She said she did not know how it all started. She lost her driver’s license in a flight to Arizona this summer, but by the time she returned home, the airline had mailed it back.
“I don’t know if that’s where it came from. That would be a guess,” she said. “But I don’t know for sure. Whether someone got the information, copied it down and then turned it in.”
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing consumer scams in America, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office, which has established a special reporting system online.
The office’s website states identity thieves tend to target Social Security numbers and other personal identification, and use it to obtain a credit card in your name.
In case of identity theft, the office recommended gathering and keeping all papers related to the crime, including receipts, and cancelled checks.
Loudenback said she monitors her credit every few days to see if the thief or thieves have struck again. Just days before this interview, she had received a bill from Macy’s in the thousands of dollars from the first spree.
None of this has scared her a bit, she added. She’s been through worse.
Her brother died when she was 21 and she was the one who had to tell her parents.
“This is minor,” she said. “Compared to being a caregiver, someone dying of cancer, losing a brother. This is minor. Not much shakes me these days.”
Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.
Comments
One Response to “Civic leader keeps her cool in wake of identity theft”
Got something to say?
Before you comment, please note:
- These comments are moderated.
- Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
- Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
- This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.
To me this is nothing to take lightly. This very morning, while at a church food bank, one of the volunteers stole my drivers’ license. I’m fuming mad! People’s lives are completely destroyed by these criminals.