Yuba-Sutter dismisses high ID theft rating

Yuba-Sutter law enforcement officials are questioning the area's latest unfavorable rating — this time on a national list of 50 metropolitan areas with high rates of identity theft.

According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission, the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area last year had the nation's 11th highest rate of complaints about the crime to the FTC.

The statistical area includes all of Yuba and Sutter counties. According to the FTC, 318 complaints were received last year, or 196.5 per 100,000 residents.

Although Yuba City had at least two high-profile identity theft cases last year that apparently contributed to the area's rating, the report also includes cases originating from outside the area, particularly over the Internet, officials said.

The local cases included a Red Bluff couple who were manufacturing fake driver's licenses in a room at the Palisade Hotel in Yuba City, and a man who tried to use a counterfeit gift card at the Yuba City Wal-Mart, said Shawna Pavey, spokeswoman for the Yuba City Police Department.

Authorities found thousands of fake cards in the man's Cadillac Escalade.

The FTC report was news to the Sutter County Sheriff's Department, which last year received just 25 complaints, said Undersheriff J. Paul Parker.

Parker suggested the department's own public education effort, which includes advising victims to report identity theft to the FTC, might have made the area look worse than it is.

"Any report we get we urge them to contact the Federal Trade Commission. We go right down the line with the FTC," said Parker.

Some victims of theft originating from out of state may report it directly to the FTC, figuring local law enforcement agencies can't do anything, he said.

Credit card fraud is the most common type of identity theft in California, followed by employment-related fraud and phone or utilities fraud, according to the FTC.

Three other California areas fared even worse than Yuba-Sutter — Napa, which was first on the list, Madera and Vallejo-Fairfield.

The picture was murkier in Yuba County, where identity theft cases are lumped in with fraud cases in general, said Melanie Oakes, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department.

There were 188 fraud cases in 2007, a 9 percent increase over the 172 reported in 2006. That comes to 3.4 incidents per 1,000 residents, she said.

"In a lot of the ID theft we see, someone loses an ATM card or credit card and it turns up at Wal-Mart. That's the highest percentage," said Oakes.

The Yuba City Police Department last year took 49 reports of identity theft, said Pavey.

"But that doesn't mean they all happened within Yuba City," she said, citing Internet crimes originating from outside the area.

A pie chart in the FTC report indicates 65 percent of victims don't notify their local police department, Pavey said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.