Identity theft in the DR

[NewsWhore]

Identity theft is keeping banks, telephone companies and embassies on their toes these days as thousands of persons are discovering their "cedulas" have been usurped by other people who then attempt to sell property, obtain a loan or who simply want to be younger. The Central Electoral Board (JCE) is working on more than 3,500 case files of persons whose identities have been switched since 2002. The JCE has said that 900 persons were subject to identity theft during 2006 and 2007. According to magistrate Juan Gulliani, some people only discover that they have been victimized when a commercial entity calls them to collect on a bill they never really incurred. On other occasions, persons going to the offices to renew their identity and voting registration cards (cedulas), find that someone beat them to the punch. The fraud results when a person is able to obtain a cedula with the name of the right person but with the photograph of the thief. According to Guilliani, in many cases the fraud has been committed with the assistance of employees of the civil registry offices that provide them with copies of birth certificates of persons who are not in the database of the new cedula because they did not retrieve their new cedula number that was issued after 1992. Before 1992, the cedula was blue. This has affected thousands who have migrated, died or some who just neglected to renew their cedula. The JCE is working on ways to stem the flow of irregular identities.

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