To his astonishment, an online search reveals a website for a law office in his name.
Criminals are impersonating him in an elaborate schemetargeting ownersof timeshares.
So at an intellectual level, I fully understood that.
At an emotional level, I felt helpless.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:00:31] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host, Bob Sullivan.
And Todd, well he has no idea why.
[00:01:37] Todd Alper: So I won’t forget it.
[00:01:50] Bob: Naturally, they all call Todd to say someone is looking for you.
[00:02:00] Todd Alper: I believe I got a call from my brother.
[00:02:03] Bob: And, and what was that like?
[00:02:04] Todd Alper: Shocking.
You know, really shocking and disturbing.
He didn’t have much information for me other than somebody was trying to contact me.
[00:02:29] Bob: Was it some kind of crazy, cruel prank?
But that’s not all.
[00:02:52] Bob: Oh my God.
[00:02:53] Todd Alper: My son answered the door.
I was in another room.
Uh, my wife was downstairs, my son answered the door.
And this person started demanding to see Todd Alper.
“I want to speak to Todd Alper.”
My son had said, “Who is this?”
He wouldn’t give any other information.
“I need to speak to Todd, to Todd Alper.”
This is no prank.
Now lawyers are looking for Todd Alper and they found him.
And that sends more chilling thoughts up Todd’s spine.
Todd hasn’t practiced law for a long time.
And there was a, an address.
There were working email addresses, both for Todd Alper and I believe for a paralegal.
There were also, uh there was a working telephone number.
[00:04:39] Bob: But that working number, well it doesn’t work for Todd.
So they would have to…
[00:04:59] Bob: Oh wow.
[00:05:00] Todd Alper: Yeah, so they weren’t able to get through that gatekeeper.
His identity has not just been stolen, it’s being used in a most elaborate way.
But Todd, well if anyone is prepared for something like this, it’s Todd.
[00:05:39] Todd Alper: And a little bit about myself.
After law school I had a variety of jobs, mostly in the financial services industry.
So while he’s not a practicing lawyer, he knows what to do right away.
He takes this very seriously.
[00:06:26] Todd Alper: The first thing I did was call the Bar.
They have an ethics hotline.
I wanted to find out if there was any reporting obligations under the ethics hotline.
And that law firm, you know, they, they put together a team.
And so you know I thought it was important to address it and hit it head on.
[00:07:35] Bob: The fraud is being perpetrated in his name, yes, but what fraud?
Why are so many people mad at this impostor version of Todd?
Local police launch the window into this world a little bit wider.
[00:08:29] Todd Alper: Correct.
And you know, I, I was very concerned.
[00:09:23] Bob: But Todd doesn’t wait around for the investigation to be complete.
The problem was the website popped right back up shortly thereafter with a new domain provider.
So instead of Law Office of Todd Alper, it was OfficeofToddAlper.com or some slight variation.
[00:10:19] Todd Alper: Correct.
[00:10:27] Bob: How many victims are out there?
How exactly is that money stolen, and how many fake websites are out there with Todd’s name?
He has to find out, because things are starting to feel out of control.
And it was important enough to me.
[00:11:48] Bob: And it’s ongoing as this is happening.
I must have done something wrong, you know, why me?
Why did they, you know my name out of anybody?
You know, “We’ll arrange for that.
You just need to work through the Law Offices of Todd Alper.”
And so that’s, that’s my understanding of, you know, how the fraud was perpetrated.
Uh, and so yeah, there were international SWIFT codes, payments to financial beneficiaries in Mexico City.
The sellers pay a fee to this fake law firm to manage the transaction.
Then, if they refuse to pay more, they are threatened.
[00:15:07] Bob: This is also a, a shockingly sophisticated crime.
Was it … these are all questions that I have.
Are these violent criminals?
These are all questions that run through my mind.
Did I do the right thing by taking the action that I did?
Is there more that I could have done?
These are things that I’m constantly thinking about.
How long did that take?
We appreciate you contacting us, and if you have further questions, feel free to contact me.”
[00:17:23] Bob: That sounds crushing to me.
[00:17:24] Todd Alper: So it was.
So at an intellectual level, I fully understood that.
At an emotional level, I felt helpless.
It’s hard to, to move on from it.
But I’m lucky.
I had financial resources, so I had a lot going for me that other people don’t.
[00:19:04] Bob: But not endless resources.
[00:19:43] Bob: And here, dear listener, is where the story ends.
Or rather it doesn’t.
maybe the website game of whack-a-mole got tiresome for them.
[00:20:21] Bob: It’s astonishing to me that your story basically ends there.
[00:20:24] Todd Alper: I think there’s no real closure.
So fortunately, I haven’t, you know, at this point, heard from any additional victims.
So, you know I’m hoping at this point that the fraud is over.
You know recently I took a look, and it seems like the website is no longer there.
So they knew how to put it up, they seemed to know how to take it down.
She’s Eva Velasquez, who is Executive Director of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center.
It’s been helping ID theft victims for 25 years.
[00:22:40] Eva Velasquez: Talk about a complex case and a persistent thief.
So that, like I said, that concept and that feeling is not unique.
[00:24:35] Bob: The word remission just hit me right between the eyes when you said it.
It makes, it’s a perfect metaphor, but yet, that sounds, that sounds so serious.
How serious is it?
You know what it means to know that you have that that you have to deal with.
It will never go away, and it just sort of hangs over you.
Now think about the fact that we’re talking about finances, where this is very public.
We’re talking about your reputation.
You’re talking about physical safety.
That is, that is tremendously debilitating.
[00:25:55] Bob: The Identity Theft Resource Center does a victim study every year.
It partly looks at the emotional impact of the crime on victims, and the recent results are disturbing.
It has doubled in the last two years.
“Yes, I had suicidal thoughts as a result of my victimization.”
And now two years later, it’s now at 16%.
Clearly, they aren’t all the same.
People can apply for government benefits in your name, like unemployment benefits.
They can file false tax returns in your name.
Anything that you do with those things, in the wrong hands, a thief can do with them.
[00:29:26] Eva Velasquez: In the identity crime space, absolutely.
They are absolutely worse.
And you know I, I could see some people making an argument that that’s not the case.
It might be more accurate to say some things are better, some things are worse.
That doesn’t happen as nearly as often now, and in fact, it’s somewhat rare.
Now I’m not saying that criminal identity theft doesn’t exist.
People will provide someone else’s identity credentials during the commission of a crime.
That’s how consultations were conducted.
And but we have shifted from that.
We do them online.
We will talk by email.
[00:32:58] Eva Velasquez: And there are how-to books now on the Dark Web.
Well the fraudsters have done the same thing.
It’s not even a bar.
How many are as bad as Todd’s story if you’re able to.
[00:34:00] Bob: Sure.
[00:34:37] Bob: I asked Eva to describe a typical complex case.
Bought a car, bought a home, established credit, had credit cards out in his name.
He is going to have to go through a lot of different steps with a lot of different entities.
[00:35:52] Bob: Oh boy.
[00:35:53] Eva Velasquez: All across the country.
And that’s the case with all identity crimes.
[00:37:22] Eva Velasquez: Exactly.
[00:38:06] Todd Alper: Yeah, I mean I will say it has a lasting impact.
The fact that even this fraud was existing was embarrassing.
There was an embarrassing component to it too.
There’s a guilt component to it, why?
How will I, will it ever, will it ever end?
Will it just pick back up again?
I hope this provides you with a little bit of comfort.
Uh, and I, I thank AARP for that.
Um, it’s been healing and helpful.
So while Todd’s story has no ending, it is at least in remission.
[00:41:50] Bob: But, of course, questions linger in his mind.
You know there’s, there is that curiosity, why Todd Alper out of all the attorneys?
Uh this was a, a, uh there were victims in different states across the country.
How did it come to be my name?
And so I never realized how, you know, sophisticated and how big this issue was internationally.
And it’s only now that I’m, you know, learning about it.
[00:43:22] Bob: What is his advice to anyone going through something like what he’s experience?
To consider attending one of the support group sessions.
You’re not required to speak.
And that’s really the important I think actionable first step.
[00:44:20] Bob: And he has another important point to make about trust in the digital age.
But there are some things you might do that can help if and when you’re targeted by criminals.
That’s just not true.
Just things like freezing your credit.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen.
And you might do it for your kids.
Easy things like better password management.
I mean think about all the transactions that go across your email.
It’s your password reset option in a lot of cases for your other accounts.
It’s not mandatory on a lot of sites, but it’s an option.
But again, if those enter credentials are compromised, someone can’t access that account without that code.
The big caveat on that one is don’t ever share that code.
It’s only for the platform that you’re trying to log into.
[00:49:23] Bob: And have a game plan.
[00:49:26] Eva Velasquez: I do think it’s important for people.
You, you could’t necessarily prevent every single incident, every flat tire or accident.
There’s things you might do.
And so I want people to have a game plan.
Who are you going to contact?
How are you going to handle this?
There are a ton of free resources out there.
Of course there’s us, there’s ITRC.
We’ve already talked about Fraud Watch data pipe from AARP.
There’s the Federal Trade Commission.
But by all means, reach out and get help.
And you do not need to feel ashamed or embarrassed.
Reach out and talk to someone.
[00:51:02] Bob: you could learn more about the Identity Theft Resource Center at ITRC.org.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch web link Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
