BY MICHELLE LIZON

Michelle Templeman looked through the car window past her own reflection. Her purse was gone—her laptop, her cell phone—everything. She ran her fingers over the large holes bored into the car locks, revealing the intruders’ path. On a visit to Hawaii, the Orem native and her husband returned from a vista point to find the car seats exposed to the sunlight.

She nervously called to cancel all her credit cards, but it was too late. The identity thieves had already opened several credit cards in her name. With the help of personal information they obtained from her belongings and online, they purchased everything from cloths to cell phones.

After missing their flight back to Utah, the family searched for a hotel room, but couldn’t get one without a credit card. Finally, one hotel clerk agreed to let them stay in the lobby, but that was it. Templeman and her family couldn’t sleep, and as the hysteria melted into exhaustion, they became aware of their hunger. They couldn’t buy food either, so they asked strangers for a few dollars to grab some cheap hamburgers.

“It was such a mess—a nightmare over and over again,” Templeman said. “After four years, I’m still dealing with it.”

Like Templeman, many people fall prey to identity thieves who spend their money and leave them with an ugly credit history that can be tough to erase.

In Utah, nearly 1600 people had their identities stolen in 2006, according to a report released by the Federal Trade Commission in 2007. The same report found that the combined costs reported nationwide to the FTC left identity theft victims with a bill of more than $1 billion.

Templeman spent hours a day for months to save her credit and issue new passwords and high security warnings on her credit cards. She had to apply for a new Social Security number, but that didn’t stop the charges.

“It used to bother me when I’d walk up to the cashier and they’d tell me that my credit was denied,” Templeman said. “It’s happened so many times now I just tell myself, Well, I guess they’ve done it again. I’ll just put everything back.”

Just three months ago, the perpetrators that stole her identity made more purchases on her account. After four years, the offenders have gone on a shopping spree that has left Templeman with a tab of more than $200,000.

“I have to try and figure out what they are going to do next, because I never know where they are going to spend my money or how they are going to use my name,” she said.

For some, the crime stole enough time to make the process of fixing identity theft into a part-time job. Most individuals that have their identity stolen spend an average of 230 hours over a year-long period cleaning up the mess, and in some cases eight years or more, according to a 2007 report by the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center. The fight often persists with credit companies long after victims believe the problem is fixed. Nearly 45 percent of the victims surveyed continued to discover slip-ups that put poor credit history on their statements.

Templeman falls into this category, as she continues to argue with credit card agencies over the phone. She said she’s gotten used to pulling teeth over her credit history.

“I’ve had to have witnesses prove that I wasn’t in some place like Virginia charging hundreds of dollars at the Gap,” she said. “I had such a hard time proving that it wasn’t me.”

The majority of identity theft victims that reported the crime to the FTC were 18 to 29-year-olds, making Templeman and other identity theft sufferers like BYU senior Kim Meade common targets.

Meade also had to wrestle with restoring her good name. She first discovered the problem after casually tearing open what appeared to be junk mail, to have the words collection agency shout from the page. She kept reading it over again. Someone had opened a cell phone account in her name and now she owed $350.

“I was pretty shocked at first,” she said. “I thought, How am I going to deal with this? I have no idea what to do or where to even begin.”

Meade discovered that the account had been opened using her name, address and Social Security number. “That was it—just those few pieces of information were all they needed to start using my identity,” she said.

To clear up the problem, Meade was handed a hefty packet where she recorded a year’s worth of her online purchases.

She was tempted, she said, to just pay the money to avoid the long process of clearing her name, but a friend reminded her that the identity thieves might try the same ploy again. If she paid their bill she would inadvertently be admitting to the debt. So after more than a year, she finally finished the battle to restore her identity.

“What’s scary is that they could do this again,” she said. “I know somebody out there has my information and they can use it whenever they want.”

If you would like to learn more about identity theft or are a victim of identity theft, visit the FTC’s site www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/

Tips to keep your identity intact:

(The following list is provided by the Utah Attorney General’s Office Web site on identity theft.)

- If you are asked to disclose personal information, ask the requester how

the information will be used and if they will share your information with

anyone else.

- Do not give your Social Security number, mother's maiden name or

account numbers to strangers who contact you, especially by phone,

Internet or mail.

- Know when your mail gets delivered and pick it up as soon as possible.

- Never allow your mail to build up while you are out of town.

- Know when your bills are due to arrive. If they are late, contact your creditors.

- Keep your personal information and all items containing your personal

information (such as account statements, receipts, and forms) in a secure

location. When you no longer need these items, shred or tear them up

before throwing them away.

- Leave your Social Security card in a safe place. Do not disclose your

Social Security number unless it is absolutely necessary.

- Only carry the identification and credit cards you need. Leave the rest in

a secure location.

Some of the most common tactics used in identity theft:

(The following list is provided by the FTC’s official site on identity theft)

- Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.

- Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.

- Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.

- Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.

- Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.

- Pretexting. They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources.