Identity theft case (Carol Anderson/Ryan)

[zack007attack]

Does anyone know if Rita Karla Faulkner has ever been caught? She seemed to be nothing but a terrible woman who feels toward others but greed.

[RobinW]

As far as I know, she was never caught, which is somewhat surprising, considering they had such a clear distinct mug shot of her and the nature of her crimes required her to be out in the open a lot. I don't feel bad saying this since she was such a terrible person, but she's definitely at the top of the list for ugliest females I've ever seen on UM!

I guess the bright side is that even when these con artists don't get caught, there's a good chance that appearing on UM does at least deter them from their activities. They might feel it's too risky to keep pulling their scams when there's a much larger chance they might be recognized from their exposure on national TV.

This case was particularly interesting because it was a bit ahead of its time. People are very aware of the dangers of identity theft today, but the concept wasn't as well-known back then.

[MegtheEgg86]

As far as I know, she was never caught, which is somewhat surprising, considering they had such a clear distinct mug shot of her and the nature of her crimes required her to be out in the open a lot. I don't feel bad saying this since she was such a terrible person, but she's definitely at the top of the list for ugliest females I've ever seen on UM!

I guess the bright side is that even when these con artists don't get caught, there's a good chance that appearing on UM does at least deter them from their activities. They might feel it's too risky to keep pulling their scams when there's a much larger chance they might be recognized from their exposure on national TV.

This case was particularly interesting because it was a bit ahead of its time. People are very aware of the dangers of identity theft today, but the concept wasn't as well-known back then.

It's curious, those con-artist cases. Those guys always seemed to be either caught in a relatively short amount of time, or never found again. And it was always on a very counter-intuitive basis--"Bonnie Wilder" was never prosecuted (to my knowledge) for her Georgia crimes, while Jack Lutter was able to maintain a handful of marriages and families without ANY of his wives discovering his "other lives" for years!

[Kane]

I guess the bright side is that even when these con artists don't get caught, there's a good chance that appearing on UM does at least deter them from their activities. They might feel it's too risky to keep pulling their scams when there's a much larger chance they might be recognized from their exposure on national TV.

Good point. In addition, you might recall that the segment ended with Robert Stack giving some good safety tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft:

1) Never write your social security on personal checks.
2) Shred or burn old documents and credit cards.
3) If someone asks you to verify for your social security number by phone, hang up.

I follow those safety tips, especially the second one (since I have a paper shredder that shreds paper into very small pieces). Also, I remember at least one occasion when I followed the third safety tip, although it didn't involve a social security number, but another piece of sensitive information.

In fact, a person once called me claiming to be from TV Guide magazine (to which I am a subscriber) to solicit an offer. I was suspicious for two reasons: 1) TV Guide never contacts me by phone, and 2) the caller asked for my credit card number. I responded by refusing to give the caller my credit card number and hanging up the phone.

There was another incident in which someone called my office to solicit an offer. The man claimed to be calling from a company for which my office had a contract that allowed them to obtain supplies from that company free of charge. But this caller aroused my suspicion when he offered me something that cost around $500 (if I remember the price correctly). As soon as I mentioned the contract we had with the company in question, the line suddenly went dead. Coincidence? I don't think so. More than likely, I'd say he had realized that his attempt to deceive me had failed - very badly!