TULSA, Okla. (KFOR) – An unusually crisp driver’s license picture led to an identification theft discovery every week in the past in Tulsa, leaving an Oklahoma man scrambling to get it sorted out.
It was a nightmare situation for Perry Allison. Somebody stole his identification, making a driver’s license along with his identify on it and tried to open a number of traces of credit score with it. He stated the primary one which caught the fraud was a financial institution he didn’t even use. The individual behind this took a random image and put it on an Oklahoma driver’s license and solely modified a number of particulars on it earlier than hitting the banks to make his transfer.
“Right here you’re simply going about your day,” Allison stated. “The following factor, you get a telephone name, and every part simply modified at that time to making an attempt to do harm management and shield myself.”
Allison stated his credit score wasn’t broken and he didn’t lose any cash so far as he knew. Nonetheless, he stated coping with identification theft has been irritating to say the least.
“I needed to seek out this man and have a pleasant little chat with him,” Allison stated.
It began with somebody creating an ID in his identify. The one that did it positioned a random image onto a driver’s license and solely modified a number of key particulars, like top, weight, hair and eye coloration. They stored nearly every part else on the license the identical.
“It obtained fascinating in a rush,” Allison stated.
Evaluating Allison’s license with the pretend, it was the picture on the pretend license that led the financial institution to catch the fraud.
“The picture was tremendous clear, crisp and simply did not appear like it belonged,” stated John Freeman, president and CEO of First Oklahoma Federal Credit score Union.
Based on Freeman, they’ve seen a couple of 50 % rise in fraud makes an attempt over the previous two years.
“They get increasingly more artistic,” he stated.
The financial institution ran a reverse google picture search on the image. They discovered it had been utilized in a number of different states as properly.
“The rarity is while you really get a Social Safety quantity and have the remainder of the data,” Freeman stated.
Based on Freeman, this specific occasion involving Allison is a type of uncommon occasions. He stated it solely occurs about one in 10 occasions. It’s because the identification thief had the Social Safety quantity and every part to commit fraud.
In the meantime, Perry stated the state of affairs pressured him to get on the telephone with the completely different credit score businesses and collect paperwork to kind it out. He stated he urges Oklahomans to place a fraud alert on their credit score so that they don’t should undergo what he did.
“You hope and also you pray that you do not undergo it, nevertheless it’s not unusual for it to occur,” Allison stated.
Perry stated he has filed a police report with the Tulsa Police Division. He was informed the image on the pretend license might or will not be the individual committing the crime. He’s persevering with to work by means of the state of affairs.
