MAHONING VALLEY Odds are 20 local victims of ID theft are upset about Web betting fraud

A South Side woman thinks the information used came from a stolen license.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A thief has used the identity of more than 20 men and women from this area to open online accounts and bet on horse races at Beulah Park Race Track near Columbus, a detective said.
"Someone is getting names, Social Security numbers and birth dates and going to Web sites like Winticket.com and Brisbet.com to set up accounts," Detective Rick Meadows of the Grove City Police Department said Friday. "A credit check takes 48 hours, but in the meantime, the Web sites will front you $200 to bet."
Meadows said the identity thief will bet the $200 before the credit check comes back. Because the thief includes a phony bank account along with the stolen name, Social Security number and birth date, the online wagering account is denied and the race track is out the $200 it advanced.
Track loses money
Beulah Park Race Track, in Grove City, Ohio, is out $8,000 so far from the scam, Meadows said. The twist is that if the bettor wins, he isn't able to collect because payouts require a valid account with the race track, the detective said.
"They can't get the money out before a credit check comes back, so we don't know the purpose of it yet," Meadows said of the larceny. He said "time will tell" if the person responsible is using stolen identities to buy other things.
Meadows said the identity-theft victims are confined to this area -- Youngstown, Canfield, Struthers, Poland and Boardman. He has sent each person a letter advising them that their identity has been used to open fraudulent online betting accounts.
A Campbell man was also notified that his identity was used to open two accounts, according to Vindicator files.
How did they get data?
Meadows said it's more than likely the person responsible for the fraud is from this area. The victims don't have a common link and how the thief obtained their names, Social Security numbers and birth dates is still not known, he said.
Meadows said he began investigating the fraud in late January after being contacted by Beulah Park Race Track. He said a Youngstown man who received information about his account from the race track told the track, "Hey, I didn't open an account."
Tunisha L. Bell of Woodside Avenue was shocked to learn that her identity had been stolen and used to open a wagering account at Beulah Park. She didn't have a clue as to how it happened but then thought back to 1997, when her driver's license was stolen.
"Now it makes sense why the letter from Grove City police went to my old address on Ravenwood. That's the address that was on the license that was stolen," Bell said Friday. "I only lived there two years and moved in 1998."
Filed police report
Acting on advice from Grove City police, Bell filed a report with Youngstown police and visited the Social Security and Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices to advise them of the situation. Bell said she also received from Grove City police a pamphlet of tips to safeguard her identity.
"We're all careless about throwing stuff out without shredding it," Meadows said. "We don't think identity theft will happen to us."
Meadows cautioned that a thief can obtain your identity by stealing your mail, purse or wallet. There's also a variety of situations -- applying for a loan, test driving a car, financing a furniture purchase -- when you give your Social Security number, he said.
meade@vindy.com