Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 2003)
dentity theft: it can happen to you Student has her coin purse taken while at the bookstore Karen Hill T he C lackamas P rint Like hundreds of other students, iana Reynolds purchased her books at ie campus bookstore on the first day of ;hool, but for Reynolds, it cost her I ore than just the price of her purchase. On Sept. 29, at 1:50 p.m. Reynolds ined the thousands of other victims ho fall prey to the fastest-growing ■rime in America—identity theft. ( These thieves steal purses, take allets, rummage through personal ail, dig through garbage, or hack to online databases to obtain names, credit card information, social securi ty numbers and other identifying records to commit fraud and other crimes against innocent victims. For Reynolds, the theft happened in a matter of seconds. While paying for her books, she set down her small coin purse on the counter. The coin purse contained her driver’s license, food stamp card, financial aid checks, library card and a small amount of cash. “[The cashier] was rattled. It was time for her break,” said Reynolds. When Reynolds left the store, she immediately realized she had left her coin purse on the counter and prompt ly reentered the store. Unfortunately, it was too late. Thinking it may have been turned in to Lost and Found, Reynolds went directly there. She discovered it had not been turned in, and set out to can cel her financial aid checks. Financial aid was able to stop pay ment on the checks but could not issue her the new ones until she had a valid ID, which had also been stolen. Reynolds filed a police report, and acted as quickly as she could, but not quite quick enough. “They found a man had used my food stamp card at 7-Eleven. He got EARL ENGLAND C lackamas P rint piane Reynolds and a bookstore employee reinact the day her coin purse was taken, n a matter of seconds, she became a victim to the thieves who stole her identity. ifl all the cash off of that,” said Reynolds. The amount on the card was $61.75, none of which Reynolds was able to get refunded. Later, Reynolds found an unusual message on her answering machine. The recording informed her that she had six overdue items at the Clackamas County Library. “Well, I haven’t gone there for a long time, so it wasn’t me,” she said. A visit to the library produced a mile long list of CDs and VHS tapes, checked out in her name, “...plus a canvas bag to carry all their loot!” added Reynolds. Fortunately, since the card was reported stolen, she was not liable for these charges. “I figure altogether, I’m out less than $200,” said Reynolds. There were also attempts'made to cash the financial aid checks, but because they had been cancelled, the thief was unsuccessful. As for Reynolds’ ID, she said the police caught a 19-year-old girl attempting to use it to cash a check. The bank didn’t quite fall for it, given the ID listed the cardholder’s age as 58. The girl was taken into custody for forgery and identity theft, Reynolds said. “It all happened so fast,” said Reynolds. “The police were great and told me who to call...it can be very confusing.” Many students may not have been aware of the incredible rate that these, thefts happen, which was unfortunately confirmed by Reynolds’ own experi ence. Clackamas Federal Credit Union presented a seminar called “Identity Theft” on Oct. 30 to help students become aware of the dangers of this crime, the best methods of prevention and what to do when you find your self to be a victim. “The [incidents] are actually much greater than anyone thought, because a lot of people are the victims of iden tity theft and don’t report it,” said Mary Greco, Clackamas Federal Credit Union employee. Greco suggests that every person order an annual copy of their credit report and insure its accuracy. Credit reports are available through websites such as Equifax.com, Transunion.com and Experian.com. Greco also recommends not giv ing out personal information on the phone, in the mail or over the Internet, “unless you have initiated the contact and know who you’re dealing with,” said Greco. “The good news is [that] the aver age person in an identity theft normal ly doesn’t lose more than $400,” said Greco. “But there are some people that lose everything.” Acting quickly in these types of situations is vitally important, as Reynolds discovered with the aid of campus officials. “I want people to know there are good people here,” said Reynolds, speaking of financial aid and campus security. “They were right on top of it.” Yictosufldentity Theft; ~ ♦Contact fraud depart ment of all three major credit bureaus; ask for a fraud alert to be placed on your account. ♦Close any accounts you believe may have been tampered with. ♦File a police report and keep a copy to give your creditors* , Information provided by Clackamas Federal Credit Union Id cement ashtrays butted out Jesse Lamond T he C lackamas P rint M Last Wednesday students and ■ollege staff may have been con- ■used and/or surprised to see a ^multitude of shiny new.ciga- ■ette disposal devices that lad seemingly sprung up ivernight. The hard-to-miss, yellow- ind-black ashtrays are ntended to phase out and eventually replace the aging one re te-and-sand-ash ubes that at present sparse- y litter the campus. The concrete tubes are Parting to crack and tend to ill with water when it ains. The unmovable ubes'are not easy to clean >ut and must have the land sifted to collect ¡arbage. These delapi- lated cylinders are also a ire hazard according to ohn Wilberg, day team eader of custodial. “An open-face, land-style urn will >urn,” said Wilberg. ‘The [new] ash trays ire designed not to let ires occur.” There are more of :he new beacon :ans than the old Concrete installa- lions, a lot more. Campus Services did not have the actual number of new units because they are still in the process of setting them out. janitorial staff time to deal with. “We’ll see where the cigarettes So far, student and faculty congregate and we’ll put new ones responses to the new receptacles there for that,” ___________ have been mixed Wilberg said. but colorful. According to “They’re not Campus Services, very attractive, but the new $80 ash I guess they are trays can simply be better than a gazil hefted and dumped lion butts squished out like a waste all over the ground,” said basket. Ease of maintenance for Mollie Frey, visual these new devices • arts secretary, will, in theory, examining one of save the custodial the miniature light staff time that can houses plopped out Mollie Frey then be spent side her window. Visual Arts secretary maintaining other “Now if they’ll aspects of the col just use them,” lege property. she added. The college administra Her slight skepticism of students actually using the new gadgets was tion does not plan on hiring any additional custodial staff voiced by several other students and teachers in Streeter Hall. to service the new campus David Andersen, art department facilities that are being con chair, said that the Art Center grav structed, so some streamlining el pit was already “the world’s of the current staff routines largest cigarette butt repository.” and workload management “Maybe now some people can was in order. According to Bill Leach of get a clue,” he said. Other students and staff have Campus Services, the four-foot, labeled the additions on campus as yellow-tipped Rubbermaid ash “pandering to addicts” and refer to cans were purchased from their them by such descriptive terms as supplies vendor in an attempt “UFO transponders,” “phallic sym to lessen the campus custodial bols” and “giant suppositories.” staff’s workload. It remains to be seen if the hard- Leach also said that the to-miss butt holders are properly choice to update where smok used. Spent cigarettes still show up ers park their butts was a in the rocky flowerbed around the Art “resource issue for [custodi Center and on the sidewalks between al staff].” Dealing with cig Clackamas’ main buildings. With any arette butts left by careless luck, the new ashtrays will keep our people all over the ground is pleasant campus less trashy. a considerable issue that takes the “They're not very attractive, but [they're] better than a gazillion butts squished [on] the ground.” PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JESSE LAMOND
