ID Theft

Oct. 10, 2005

Transcript:

>> Michael Grant:
Tonight on "Horizon," the Asian bird flu could wreak havoc on our health and economy if it begins to transmit between humans. New indictments and a new partnership in the battle to prevent I.D. theft. And the colorful history of Wickenburg can be experienced at the Desert Caballeros Museum.

>> Michael Grant:
Good evening. Welcome to "Horizon." I'm Michael Grant Several international organizations currently meeting in Thailand for the international partnership on avian and pandemic influenza. The goal is to work out strategies to contain and combat the Asian bird flu that has killed millions of birds. About 60 people have also died of that disease. Mostly poultry workers. At this time, the virus apparently does not spread from human to human, but it might be only a matter of time before it does. If that were to occur, there could be catastrophic consequences. Joining us to when talk about what we can expect in Arizona, the state's epidemiologist, David Engelthaler. David, I guess we should clarify that for anything to happen in Arizona or anywhere else this thing has to move to human to human transmittal, correct?

>> David Engelthaler:
The avian flu virus right now is really what that is. It's a bird flu virus being spread among birds and killing birds all over the place in Asia and east Asia and now some other places as well. Occasionally incidentally humans will have very close contact with these birds and become infected and get sick and in many cases have died. We've seen 50% fatality rate. But we're not seeing human to human transmission. That's a key component for this to become a human disease, which it is not now. It's still just a bird disease.

>> Michael Grant:
So at this point in time if I was not around poultry, I was not around fowl that kind of thing, then there is very little if any chance I'm going to get this flu?

>> David Engelthaler:
If you're not a chicken farmer in Vietnam or in someplace in east Asia or working in those markets where you have live chickens, birds and humans close together and spreading germs back and forth you have no risk for getting avian influenza.

>> Michael Grant:
Why the concern, then -- David, I think you show up about every year at this time, and we talk about the latest strain of flu and whether or not we'll guess right, whether or not we'll have another delivery failure in the vaccine, whatever happens to be the subject de jour that particular year but why the concern here about this having the capability of this having the ability to mutate?

>> David Engelthaler:
Certainly this disease has caught the attention of the world. Scientists have been looking at this particular strain since 1997 when it first popped up. It's really caught the imagination of the public through the help of the media but at this point in time it's still not a human disease. It's the specter of becoming a human disease in a global pandemic and the Spanish flu all over again that's really, I think, caught people's attention and there's lots of concerns out there. But, yeah, you're right the flu season is right around the corner and we still have to be wary of that as well.

>> Michael Grant:
You mentioned the Spanish flu. I think that was the 1918 outbreak which they believe was tied to a bird flu.

>> David Engelthaler:
They're now looking at the genetic components of it and they believe it originally originated as a bird flu, somehow got the right genetic mutations, combinations, maybe a mixture between bird flu and human flu, came up with this kind of super virus that caused the Spanish flu which, you know, they think 20 to 50 million deaths worldwide out of that outbreak.

>> Michael Grant:
And then there have been more minor outbreaks in the '50s and the '60s. Were those also bird mutations for lack of a better term or were those just simply more virulent or newer forms of flu?

>> David Engelthaler:
I think they were essentially new human flu strains that popped up and no one has linked those yet to actual bird flu or combination with bird flu and human flu like they did with the Spanish flu recently from 1918.

>> Michael Grant:
Certainly one of the other major concerns is if this were to occur there is some vaccine but not anywhere close to the amount that we would need?

>> David Engelthaler:
Just recently actually they've had some good success in developing a vaccine against the Asian flu. That may provide some protection in humans. That's still not known and it's still not known how much dose you would need. You might five to ten times the amount of vaccine in a human to get protection they think at this point. They are developing and I think they're on track to make a couple million doses by this year which the U.S. Government rightly so is purchasing but you can't prevent a pandemic with a couple million doses. So there's lots of manufacturers, lots of new techniques out there looking to see how can we develop vaccine quicker and get more produced in a short order if we had to do it this year, next year or sometime in the near future.

>> Michael Grant:
One of the problems with flu vaccine is there simply is not a whole lot of money in selling flu vaccine?

>> David Engelthaler:
Actually, flu vaccine is big business, you know. This year they wouldn't make it if they didn't think they could sell it and they're making somewhere between 90 and 100 million doses that we're purchasing here in the United States. That's an awful lot of vaccine. It's more than we've ever seen available before. So that's really good news, we're going to have plenty of vaccine this year, there shouldn't be any shortages. People should get their vaccination. There is not great uptake in that not everybody gets vaccinated so the producer doesn't make enough.

>> Michael Grant:
That was one of the reasons why I think some of the pharmaceutical companies, in fact, I think everybody retreated from the United States market?

>> David Engelthaler:
That and some of the liability concerns of vaccine and other legal issues dealing with production of pharmaceuticals. But I think the side is that with influenza viruses, still, the best technique we have is to inoculate embryonic chicken eggs so they can grow the virus and produce a virus. It still takes a very long to produce flu vaccine every year. It takes a good six months. The fear is if there is a pandemic pops up we need to come one a new vaccine quickly it's still going to take that six months. So they need to develop new techniques that allows us to produce better vaccine.

>> Michael Grant:
One of the things in great concern in contrast to 1918 is this -- it truly is a worldwide economy, you've got methods and modes of travel that get a person from Japan to the United States in a matter of hours. If there were to be an outbreak, that poses really some unique public health issues?

>> David Engelthaler:
I think you're right. I think we were talking about earlier, too, Michael Grant, we don't -- we got more travel going on than we did back then, but we also understand the germ theory better now than we did in 1918. We have good infection control techniques in our hospitals and in our healthcare system that limit amount of spread that occurs between individuals. We have things like isolation quarantine that can be brought in the to stop movement of individuals from airports. This is truly exemplified by the SARS outbreak which was really stopped dead in its tracks. It really had the -- everything going for it to become a large pandemic a novel virus, no vaccine, no antivirals, therefore no immunity, high transmission and Haifa tale tea rates but it was stopped dead in its tracks because of things like infection control in hospitals, quarantine in people's homes, shutting down of airports, those kind of things, the things we would bring in if we had a pandemic influenza.

>> Michael Grant:
David, you mentioned this thing has been on the radar screen since 1987. Is there a time when we can breathe a sigh of relief and say we dodged that bullet or does it simply hang around the potential exists.

>> David Engelthaler:
I think the potential exists. We have been looking at this thing for a good deal of years, and knowing appear pandemic could hit us again, that really is the gold star disease by which we mark all other diseases. So we have to be ready. We call it a genetic roll of the dice, this virus combination could pop up somewhere in the world. We have to be ready in case it does break out and comes to our country.

>> Michael Grant:
All right. Well, let's obviously keep our fingers crossed. David Englethaler, thank you very much for the information. Arizona ranked number one in the nation in I.D. theft complaints last year. Metro Phoenix ranked first among all metropolitan areas in the country according to the federal trade commission. Arizona Attorney General' office working to put an end to I.D. theft. In a minute we will talk to Attorney General Terry Goddard about that. First Paul Atkinson takes a look at what law enforcement agencies are doing to try to stop I.D. theft.

>> Richard Atwood:
So the Phoenix P.D. was throughout all day --

>> Paul Atkinson:
Richard at wood leads a search warrant briefing. The suspect a traffic inner stolen identities. The United States postal infection service will team up with the Phoenix police tactical unit to storm the house. It's the fourth search warrant they'll have served this week.

>> Richard Atwood:
People will probably go to jail tomorrow once we find out stuff.

>> Paul Atkinson:
Local law enforcement has not taken the increase in I.D. theft lightly. These postal inspectors are part of an I.D. theft task force created in the summer of 2004 involving federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

>> Paul Charlton:
We have a number of different law enforcement agencies that are all housed under one roof and who are attacking this problem. So we can bring together resources from state, local and federal venues to look at where this problem is now and anticipate where the problem is going to go in the future.

>> Paul Atkinson:
The task force also helps resolve issues over jurisdiction. Oftentimes a victim lives in one city and their I.D. is fraudulently used in another.

>> Doug Hilburn:
If you're in the City of Phoenix and a crime happens in the City of Phoenix, you call the Phoenix police. If you're in the City of Scottsdale and a crime happens in Scottsdale and you're a resident there you call the Scottsdale police. When you're an identity theft victim and you live in one of those cities and really all the theft is actually occurred in another location, whether it be online or stuff is shipped to, let's say a city like Avondale, Arizona, or something like that, who do you call? That's the problem. Because it's not as clear-cut on whose jurisdiction it is.

>> Matt Art:
The suspect involved, the main suspect involved, I just got the charging complaint on him today and they charged him with fraud schemes.

>> Paul Atkinson:
Matt is one of several detectives assigned to the Phoenix police document crime bureau. The bureau handled more than 1700I.D. theft cases, a 44% increase from the previous year.

>> Jason Davis:
Here with the Phoenix Police Department they previously had two squads that worked what we call document crimes here in Phoenix, and that was -- they worked embezzlement cases and forgeries and identity thefts. In January of 2004 we added a third squad. There's now three squads in Phoenix working on those issues. Those types of cases. I think we need probably two more squads.

>> Brad Astrowsky:
Credit card numbers were obtained from a company that the defendant had worked for.

>> Paul Atkinson:
More than a half dozen prosecutors handle I.D. theft cases for the Maricopa County attorney's case. A special unit was created in August 2004.

>> Brad Astrowsky:
It allows us to be more proactive. It allows for specialization. When you have specialization, that's going to result in higher conviction rate and better service to victims. As well as we can see here and I can see here as well because I manage all the cases in the bureau the trends. If we can start seeing the trends, we could then develop strategies for prevention.

>> Paul Atkinson:
Brad Astrowsky heads the I.D. theft bureau. Since the unit was created late last summer it's seen a 60% increase in the number of I.D. theft cases prosecuted. The county attorney's office was also instrumental in creating an investigator's association.

>> Brad Astrowsky:
Identity thieves don't care about geographical lines or locations. They're going to commit identity theft in multiple cities and the City of Tempe may be working an investigation on the same individual, group of individuals, that the City of Glendale may be working and they may not in the past have known that because weave this group with the sharing of information of reports and investigations, hopefully that will lead to better investigations, better service for victims.

>> Paul Atkinson:
I.D. theft was not a specific crime until 1998. That year Congress passed the identity theft and assumption deterrence act which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

>> Michael Grant:
Joining me now to talk about some recent I.D. theft cases and a new public education campaign is Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. Terry, welcome back.

>> Terry Goddard:
Thank you.

>> Michael Grant:
Couple of weeks ago seven indictments, this was a sting operation, right?

>> Terry Goddard:
This was a sting from the state identity thefts task force, basically trying to find people who are selling on the street corner in many cases illegitimate, manufactured identification. Social Security cards, green cards and driver's licenses and you saw a number of pictures there in your short of the -- some of the stock product that was seized in that particular sting.

>> Michael Grant:
Who is the I.D. task force made up of?

>> Terry Goddard:
Well, Paul Charlton talked a little bit about it but it's a combination of state, local and federal investigators and prosecutors, because there are some jurisdictional lines that get fuzzy when you're talking with identity theft, but it is growing so fast we're trying to get rid of the old -- the old provincialism and try to attack this problem in as multi-disciplinary ways as we possibly can.

>> Michael Grant:
Now, the sting operation, there those I.D.s were being used and purchased by illegal immigrants, right?

>> Terry Goddard:
Apparently they were. Nobody else needs a green card. They're buying on the street. But driver's licenses is an interesting side business that can be used just for old-fashioned fraud. It doesn't necessarily -- it isn't necessarily specific for somebody who is here without documentation. But these were pretty good products. I guess the way you tell if it's a phony driver's license, if it has a really good picture.

>> Michael Grant:
You and I were sharing our I.D. We both agreed we have terrible --

>> Terry Goddard:
That's right. These folks are working on the street corner. We reversed the sting. We have other cases coming. The first seven are now in the courts, have been charged, but we believe there are quite a few more that are going to be prosecuted before we're done with this side of the identity problem, but it's not the whole story. Obviously you've got a lot of other fraud going on using electronics, using phony I.D., Ewing stolen financial information.

>> Michael Grant:
And also there's a case involving a couple that was just the old-fashioned dumpster diving.

>> Terry Goddard:
That's right. I think it really -- we get so fixated on the high-tech ways of getting identity through the computer, through the internet, through hacking into a secure location, we forget that most identity theft is still the old-fashioned kind. It's low tech. It's a relative or a caregiver stealing identity right out of the house. Someone who is trusted. Or alternatively, it's -- it's dumpster diving, stealing records that should have been shredded but weren't and turned out the one that we prosecuted a come weeks ago in Glendale had over 200 very complete financial records they got an from an Ashley furniture store. So this was material that was in the trash. They took it out and then they started working each identity to buy goods over the internet.

>> Michael Grant:
Listen, you've got a new partnership with Cox communication and there's a PSA that you've produced. So let's go ahead and run that and take a look at it and we'll be right back.

>> Terry Goddard:
Identity theft will affect over 14 million Americans this year and thieves don't care who you are, what you do or where you live. Think you're safe? Think again. Arizona leads the nation in identity theft crimes. That's why I support higher security standards for all businesses that keep financial records. And protect yourself. Shred documents containing personal information. Never, never, give anyone your Social Security number unless you're establishing credit. Identity theft is a crime of opportunity. Don't give thieves a chance.

>> Michael Grant:
It's a good tip but so many people ask for your Social Security number.

>> Terry Goddard:
They do.

>> Michael Grant:
At legitimate operations.

>> Terry Goddard:
Yes, they do, and that's why if you're taking a loan you can't avoid giving your Social Security number. If you're buying a car, getting divorced or married, federal law requires that your Social Security number be part of that because it's part of the child support system. So I just think as consumers we need to fight back every chance we get. For example the legislature passed last year a way to get Social Security numbers off our health cards because up until then every HMO had your Social Security number at the top. Today the biggest offenders in my opinion are your Medicare cards and your military I.D.s. They still have your Social Security number in big letters at the top. We petitioned Congress to try to get that changed.

>> Michael Grant:
What other things, Terry, can people really do? You mentioned there's a continuum of protection against this. The best being only use cash --

>> Terry Goddard:
Only use cash --

>> Michael Grant:
And live in a cave. What other --

>> Terry Goddard:
Most people won't opt for that, but I believe, A., you've got to be very cautious, first and foremost with your Social Security number, never give it out if someone solicits you. If you initiate the effort to buy a product, you're safe or should be safe. But if it comes over the phone or through the internet without being solicited, the chances that it's fraudulent are very, very high. Obviously the old-fashioned kind of protections are the most important. Keep your wallet safe. Keep your purse safe. Don't pay bills by putting the paid bill on the street corner for the postman to pick up. That's just an open invitation for an identity thief to grab the information. Be suspicious. If somebody calls you and you don't know who it is, demand that they get a call-back number or that they follow up in the mail if it's a deal you really want.

>> Michael Grant:
Obviously be suspicious of any inquiries coming in by e-mail.

>> Terry Goddard:
Absolutely. Phishing is a big problem these days. We just had one from the Arizona Retirement Fund, that's what it looked like. This was an e-mail that many seniors got that said the retirement fund is updating its records and recalculating benefits. Won't you go to this web site. It appeared that the web site was right there. If you did that, you were feeding your information to an identity thief.

>> Michael Grant:
All right. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, thank you very much.

>> Terry Goddard:
Thank you.

>> Michael Grant:
The search for gold has played a prominent role in the history of Arizona. In fact, Wickenburg was a town founded after the discovery of a gold mine, and because it's one of oldest Arizona towns, Wickenburg is rich in history. You can see much of that history in the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. Producer Mike Sauceda and videographer Scot Olson give us a video tour.

>> Royce Kardinal:
We're a museum of the people. Museums -- some areas have a bad rap that they only cater to the elite or the wealthy. This museum is definitely for the people to get a basic understanding of western art and history.

>> Mike Sauceda:
It's the big museum in the little town. The museum was formed in 1963, borne out of a license plate collection, appropriate for a town built at the crossroads of several highways.

>> Royce Kardinal:
It was a dream of our former -- he was actually practicing school superintendent at the time, H.K. "Mac" McClennon. It was his dream. He started out with a small collection of rusty license plates.

>> Mike Sauceda:
The museum's name came from an early group of patrons.

>> Royce Kardinal:
One of the groups that was very active in the early formation of this was the Desert Caballeros riding group, which was started in the late '40s. These people who came from throughout the country to enjoy a wild and woolly week in the west were some of the first people that were actually nudged for a contribution to get the museum started.

>> Hobert Mead:
Welcome to the Brayton Commercial Store. It was one of the bright spots of the town because you came here to get whatever you needed.

>> Mike Sauceda:
The museum was originally located in the old Brayton Commerical Building, a general store that existed until the '50s in Wickenburg and is now recreated in this museum display. Hobert Mead spends his day in front of the general store recreation. Just as old men with beards did when the store existed.

>> Hobert Mead:
When I hear them on the stairs, I just sit like that and I have had them come down and pinch my arm to see if I'm real. Had them stand next to me and tell their spouse to, okay, take my picture, stuff like that. There's a couple from Columbia, Missouri, and he stopped on the four there step there and she walked over right up here about 15 inches away, and I winked at her, and she screamed and they heard her upstairs, and she landed behind her husband on step 4.

>> Mike Sauceda:
Hobert is one of the many volunteers who keep the museum going.

>> Royce Kardinal:
This museum has always been long on expectations, long on excellence and very short on staff and paid people to work, and so our volunteers have proven to be very astute in helping to tell our story.

>> Ray Ludke:
Visitors come into our western gallery and see all types of western art, like this contemporary piece by Gary Smith, and then we come -- we have a lot of older pieces --

>> Mike Sauceda:
Ray Ludke is one of the other volunteers. Her specialty is in the western art exhibit, which represents one of the two main functions of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum.

>> Ray Ludke:
It is a combination of history, certainly, but it also, we now are presently standing in a wonderful art museum that has some of the finest western art around, and certainly in this state and in many other states. It's a gem of a collection.

>> Mike Sauceda:
You can take in western art from the 1800s to contemporary western art and sculpture. Mining was the reason for the founding of Wickenburg reflected in this gem and mineral display. As a history museum, Desert Caballeros has a rich vein to mine.

>> Royce Kardinal:
Wickenburg is one of the oldest communities in Arizona, second only to Tucson which was found by the early Spaniard movement that came through.

>> Mike Sauceda:
That history is brought to life by dioramas and a full size territorial town exhibit.

>> Royce Kardinal:
Some of our first exhibits started in the museum were our dioramas. They're still here today and they were part of the museum from pretty much the very beginning, keeping along with the history area of our museum we have period rooms, which were designed to portray what life was like just about the turn of the century. That would be the turn of the last -- two centuries ago. And those are as authentic as we could possibly make them. We have a great exhibit in our downstairs area known as the street scene, which sort of tells the story of what Wickenburg looked like just as we came into the 20th century.

>> Mike Sauceda:
About 33,000 visitors a year stop at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. Besides learning about the history of Wickenburg you can see a collection of western memorabilia like guns, spurs, whips, chaps and other items cowboys used in the tough job of herding cattle and the home life can be seen in life size displays of life in a ranch house. There are changing exhibits, like this Navajo blanket display.

>> Royce Kardinal:
The beautiful Navajo weavings, as they were created, most of the with ones we're seeing in this exhibition today are products of the late 1800s. I think it's amazing to look at the colors that were so vividly used and the patterns that are used in these weavings. It's hard to imagine if -- that they were being done in that era.

>> Mike Sauceda:
A fire destroyed the original building in 1972, but the volunteer spirit that helped build and run the museum kicked in again.

>> Royce Kardinal:
It was two years late or December 21st, the anniversary of the fire, that we opened this facility that we currently have. That was done by raising about $250,000, which in 1974 was a pretty good chunk of money, and very hard to come by in those days.

>> Mike Sauceda:
Museums like the Desert Caballeros Western Museum provide us a glimpse into the past. Cardinal says as the museum looks into its own future it will call on that western spirit again that built it in the first place.

>> Royce Kardinal:
There's really an exciting future. There's no limit.

>>> Merry Lucero:
The City of Mesa allows portable A-frame signs within its redevelopment area downtown but not in the rest of the city. Some small business owners want that restriction changed. Plus, you may have seen these giant guitars lining streets around the Valley. We'll tell you what they are and why they're here. Tuesday on "Horizon."

>> Michael Grant:
And then Wednesday we'll be taking a look at some of the important cases that are facing the United States Supreme Court this term. Thank you very much for joining us on a Monday edition of "Horizon." I'm Michael Grant. Have a great one. Good night.