METH ADDICTS USE INTERNET TO CASH IN ON IDENTITY THEFT

Since the mid-1990s, methamphetamine addicts have systematically
looted garbage bins and mailboxes in search of identity data that can
be converted into quick cash to buy the highly addictive stimulant.

Now, in a shift that could further fuel identify theft, meth users and
traffickers across North America have embraced computers and the
Internet to expand their activities globally.

That's the upshot of a USA TODAY investigation involving interviews
with more than 90 police officers, district attorneys, meth addicts
and Internet-security experts. Here are just a few examples of
high-tech identity theft from across the USA:

In Sacramento, Sheriff's Det. Eric Pahlberg recently took a reporter
on a driving tour of "meth row," a string of squalid motels in
California's capital. "We've found people on their computers making
fake driver's licenses, checks, ordering products," says Pahlberg.

From 1998 until he went to jail in 2003, Michael Greer, 34, was a key
figure in a group of 50 mostly gay men who made midnight raids of
mailboxes in tony Seattle suburbs and carried out elaborate ID-theft
scams.

"The drug is this evil root inside your body that dictates everything
you do," says Greer, a law-office receptionist who helped start the
Seattle chapter of Crystal Meth Anonymous, a recovery group. "And
it'll dictate whatever it takes to keep getting high."

A gang of meth-abusing women donning disguises have stolen wallets and
records from hospitals, offices and child care facilities along the
West Coast this year, running up $100,000 in charges online. Most of
the 12 suspected gang members have been caught; the others are selling
and trading credit card information on the Internet, says Commander
Dave Kirby of the Washington County (Ore.) Sheriff's Office.

Last month, a federal judge in Montana sentenced Troy McCready, 26, to
two years and four months for counterfeiting, possession of
document-making materials and attempted bank fraud.

McCready, a meth user, was arrested in a Kalispell, Mont., motel in
February, where police found computer hardware, software and data
files to produce fake IDs. A counterfeit check, driver's license and
$50 bills were also discovered.

A computer-shop owner, McCready was the technical brains in an
identity-theft ring involving dozens of meth users in the Phoenix area.

No single database tracks all identity-theft cases. But in 2003, the
most recent year for which information is available, 10 million
Americans were victims of identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission
says. Only half knew what happened. About 25% said their personal
information was lost or stolen -- including credit cards, checkbooks,
Social Security numbers and mail.

Federal regulators estimate identity theft cost individuals $5 billion
and 300 million hours as they tried to resolve their problems in 2003.
The average victim spent $500 and 30 hours on his or her problems.
Arizona had the highest number of incidents per 100,000 people,
followed by Nevada and California.

Identity thieves most often use their victims' data to commit credit
card fraud (33% of the time), phone or utilities fraud (21%) and bank
fraud (17%).