A direct complaint from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office alleges 29-year-old Luis Carlos Rivero Martines committed felony forgery and aggravated taking identity of another by stealing a man’s identity to gain employment in the Valley.
The victim in this case had been in prison in Idaho and applied for government assistance benefits after he was released.
“He wasn’t able to get the benefits because it showed employment that was current that wasn’t accounted for,” said Sgt. Brian Kidd of the Tempe Police Department.
Investigators found Martines had allegedly paid $1,000 for a fraudulent driver's license and social security card in the victim’s name. Martines had come to the United States from Venezuela and used the fraudulent documents to get multiple jobs over several months.
“As of right now there’s at least, at least 20 jobs he’s worked in my name,” said the victim, who ABC15 is not naming, during a phone interview. “ Last year he made over $94 thousand. And as it is right now, the IRS is like asking me for around 15-20 thousand.”
Sgt. Kidd investigates fraud and financial crimes for Tempe police and reviewed some of the employment records Martines submitted.
“Pretty quickly we can understand and realize it’s not the same person and it is a case of identity theft,” Kidd told ABC15.
Kidd says employment fraud often involves the criminals bouncing from job to job.
“It is not a one-off situation,” said Ariel Nelson, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “People who are incarcerated are often targets of identity theft for a lot of reasons, including because it's really hard for them to monitor their credit reports when they're on the inside.”
Nelson said there are limited options for people heading into incarceration, but taking steps to protect their identity can pay off in the long run.
“Freezing your credit report can be a big one, and thinking about who of maybe your close loved ones can help you monitor your credit report, for example, on the outside,” Nelson.
“We recommend regular credit checks,” Sgt. Kidd said. “Change your passwords periodically. Check on your accounts periodically. Regular bank accounts, we recommend checking daily.”
Kidd told ABC15 criminals can be fairly sophisticated in their efforts.
“Sometimes criminals are pretty good. The employers can do better in some circumstances. Do more thorough background checks. A lot of them use E-Verify,” Kidd said.
He adds that even E-Verify does not catch every scheme, though it is a good step.
“There usually are some red flags with some of the employment documents and hiring documents that if they were a little bit more thorough in taking a look at them we might be able to recognize some of these cases but overall it can be pretty difficult," he said.
