Anita Creamer: Credit him with an idea for fighting identity theft

A reminder today for consumers: The cheats are out there waiting for us.

That's what Richard Kowaleski, a 63-year-old Air Force veteran and retired professor who lives in Orangevale, discovered recently when he opened one of his credit card bills. Someone had used that credit card number to charge more than $400 to businesses he doesn't frequent.

A pizzeria in Rochester, N.Y., for example. And Victoria's Secret.

"I get the bill, and there's a list of different charges," says Kowaleski. "I said, 'Whoa, somebody has pilfered my credit card number.'

"I called the credit card company immediately and talked to a representative. Nice lady. She said, 'This happens all the time.' "

The good news is, the Chase Bank representative removed the fraudulent charges from his account right away, and Kowaleski closed that account.

The bad news is, lots of people seem to go on automatic pilot, writing out check after check without giving close scrutiny to their credit card statements.

As Kowaleski points out: "People have dozens, absolutely dozens, of credit card numbers. I charge darn near everything, and when I get a credit card bill, I have pages of transactions."

Thieves count on that, and they count on busy people not bothering to check their monthly statements closely.

"I go over my statements very closely now," says Kowaleski.

Of course. And that's what he wants you to know, too: The world is littered with crooks and punks for whom credit card fraud constitutes a way to make a profitable living. Consumers have to be careful.

Besides, would it kill you to pay cash every now and then? Cash, the surefire way to put the credit card scam artists out of business.

Just a suggestion.

These days, it seems, everyone has a story involving credit card fraud or identity theft – or, for those victimized by crooks who still do business the old-fashioned way, stolen purses or ransacked glove boxes.

My favorite purse-snatching story involves a dear friend who was pregnant with her first child many years ago and waiting for a commuter train in Chicago when a woman tried to grab her purse. My friend hung on to the purse strap for dear life and screamed and fought, and the would-be criminal quickly ran away.

Fortunately, outwitting credit card fraud doesn't generally require us to wrestle with thieves. It just requires us to pay attention.

Kowaleski says he never used this particular credit card. He opened the account in September when he was buying books and DVDs online and was offered $30 credit to apply for the card.

So how did the crooks get his account information?

"That I don't know," he says. "I think the only way they could've gotten it was online somehow."

Not a comforting thought.

Neither is this: While it's alarming to ordinary consumers to discover that their credit cards have been used fraudulently, many companies seem to consider a certain amount of theft the cost of doing business.

Kowaleski's thief used his card number to pay for cellular phone service – an easily traceable transaction. But when Kowaleski informed the cell phone company about the situation, he says, "They didn't even care. It's up to the businesses to do something, and they do nothing."

He filed a crime report with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and faxed copies to the various credit-reporting agencies, which have attached fraud alerts to his accounts. Yet even now, some stores don't ask to see his ID when he charges small purchases there.

"So if you're a crook, you want to make sure not to steal too much at one time," he says. "Do it often, and do it at different stores."

It's a good bet they already know that.

About the writer:

• Anita Creamer's column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in Scene. Call her, (916) 321-1136. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/creamer.