Fraudster Pretends to be a Genealogist to Steal Identities

New Zealander Kevin Anthony Osborne had a lucrative scam going. He applied to District Courts for birth certificates, sometimes ordering large amounts of data, claiming he was conducting genealogy research. He looked for males with birth dates near his own who had died. He then assumed their identity, applied for admission at various universities, and then applied for student loans.

“A couple of occasions they wrote to the courts saying they were conducting a genealogy research, and could they have the birth certificates for x amount of people, and they were subsequently supplied with them,” says Detective Sergeant Nigel Hughes, from Christchurch police.

Today, ten years later, Osborne was sent to prison. The judge sentenced him to 14 months behind bars, ending his 10 years on the run.

“He is a low life. He must have had no morals whatsoever and go around cemeteries and look at gravestones,” said Ian Barker. Ian and his wife Margerate are victims of his scam… Osborne stole their son Brett’s identity in the name of greed.

You can read more about this story in the TV3 web site at http://tinyurl.com/2wan2z.

Comments

[Mo]

It also makes things hard for those of doing legitimate research. Not everyone can afford to travel halfway across the country just to get some certificates, and they won't allow a non-relative to pick them up for you. Sigh. Some people just have no moral compass.

[Keith Hunter]

It's people like this that make it difficult to get even basic info from my own cousins. Unfortunately part of that may be my fault also. I hadn't been in touch with most of them for many years and here out of the blue... I'm doing genealogy research.

Well folks we're not all out to steal your identity. I'm looking to record some history for my kids, grandkids, etc. Hopefully some of the rest of the family will take a look at my work and see that I don't want their money, just your stories.

[Judith]

Unfortunately its nasty cases like this one which makes our current NZ government (a pretty mean spirited bunch at the best of times) want to close up access to such records for all of us. At a time when, internationally and in this age of transparency, many public bodies are opening up records, our government departments would prefer to do the opposite.

[Rose]

I've had very good luck asking others for information--perhaps because I always offer them information in return. That doesn't prove I'm not a "scammer," of course. But someone who is "up to no good" (as my mother would have called it) isn't likely to spend much time doing real genealogical research or providing it to others.

[Michael E. Pollock]

Leave it to a government agency to come up with a "solution" that only exacerbates the problem rather than demanding accountability from those whose incompetence or laziness allowed the problem to occur in the first place.

The current problem with identity theft began in large part because banks and credit card companies encouraged customers to use "mother's maiden name" as a security password, something any genealogist knows to be so readily available, and from a variety of sources (e.g., my mother's maiden name is stated in biographies in Who's Who Among American High School Students, Who's Who Among American College and University Students, Outstanding Young Men in America and quite a few other places), for the concept of the same providing "security" to be laughable. Rather than demand that the banks/credit card companies change the practice (Georgetown University, for example, not only requires a password of 10 digits, but also use of a number and symbol and I was able to devise one that is both easy for me to remember but short of being compromised by a key-stroke recorder is impossible to break even for someone knowing "favorite professor at Georgetown" to be my clue, because my transcript at GU shows NO class taken that he taught), government responded by restricting access to birth and death certificates. The logic of such action would have demanded burning every book containing a biography of a living individual. While that has yet to happen, I see too many examples that suggest the potential is all too real.

Much of the problems with identity theft would disappear overnight if all states would adopt something that is done in West Virginia, reporting deaths to the locality where the person normally resides if occuring somewhere else, then adapt it to include reporting to the locality where the individual was born. With so many Vital Statistic/Records offices now being computerized, it would be a simple matter to program a function that could not just identify a deceased individual as deceased, but even append the same to his/her birth certificate, if not outright, then in the manner done in Illinois, where certificates are stamped "For Genealogical Purposes Only", though something along the lines of "not valid for purposes of identification" would also suffice. Yes, it would initially mean more work, and expense, but "payoff" would more than justify the same.

It also makes more sense to hold accountable persons who don't do their jobs properly. For example, to be able to apply for scholarships, one must be able to provide school transcripts. Was this individual indeed issued such a transcript for the persons whose identities he stole? It is difficult to imagine a scenario where a school registrar could not determine with relative ease if a transcript requested for purposes of a scholarship/student loan was legitimate. In most instances it will be for an individual, if not a current student, then a recent graduate, with said registrar having information to confirm the same on hand. If not a current student/recent graduate, the school itself in some form (an Development office or Alumni Association) will maintain for such purposes of soliciting money or there will be informal groups affiliated with the same for such purposes of holding class reunions that should be able to confirm if an alum is dead or alive, and laws could/should be modified to require any such informal groups to file with the school, or where the school is now defunct, with the Board of Education (local for a public and state for a private, school), a list of all addresses for living alumni and the names of those identified as deceased or who could not be found. That would require anyone trying to steal an identity to have other people "vouch" for them which could not be done without collusion because it would require knowledge of the individual whose identity is to be stolen beyond what would be revealed on a death certificate or obituary for anyone who is deceased. For example, if randomly selecting someone for a yearbook, one would need to be certain that any person selected would: 1)remember/have known the individual being targeted; 2)would not still be in touch with the target; and/or 3)be willing to assist when believing the contact is from the targeted person. With each additional character witness required, the possibility that a transcript could be obtained fraudulently would grow progressively more difficult. True, it might make the task a bit more onerous for a legitimate request, but such a person would presumably have a "head start" of having both a personal recollection of whom to contact and a means of reminding him/her of specific names in the form of a year book even when long removed from the locality.

As a professional genealogist of more than 30 years, I continue to be angered by such scams as they not only result in restrictions on records I need to do my job, but also encourage misperceptions in the general public about the nature of the work I do that make it more difficult even to solicit information from private parties that I identify as possible resources based upon name and residence.

[Karl-Hans Boetcher]

I was at the courthouse where my parents were divorced (in 1945). I had their death certificates, birth certificates and other information with me. I had my birth certificate, drivers license and US Passport. I also had proof that the attorneys in the case were both long deceased. And I was denied access to the divorce records, merely being able to get a copy of the date of the divorce and the final disposition date but nothing else. Who are these govt officials protecting in this case? Why is this barrier in place?

[Penny in Texas]

"Not Valid for Purpose of Identity" or "For Genealogical Use Only" ... what a great solution! Simple, straightforward, and a relatively inexpensive answer to the problem for the offices that issue the certificates.

Penny

[Lynn]

It's hard enough to get documents without giving legislatures another reason to block access. Between outrageous prices and closed records this research is getting harder and harder in some areas. I've been planning on sending a few "cold" letters to people with the family name, in an ancestral community. The first thing I need to do is convince them that my letter isn't junk mail and I'm not an ID thieving nutcase. But like a previous poster I always give information to people who don't know me, first. That does seem to help, and I never post anyone's info to the internet. That's been done to me twice and now before I send additional info I make my wishes known.