By Walter Dubowec

It is true. Absolutely no one in America is immune to identity theft!

Ellen Gabler, a consumer affairs specialist with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported a woman named Janet Jenkins recently had her identity stolen. The news seems insignificant at first blush because identities are stolen in America at a rate of about one each minute, right?

Wrong!

             

What makes this case different is that Janet Jenkins heads the State of Wisconsin’s Office of Consumer Protection. Her job is to help ensure that the citizens of Wisconsin don't get scammed or taken advantage of.

But she was scammed. "It just goes to show, you can't entirely protect yourself," Jenkins said.

Here's what happened, according to the Journal Sentinel:

“In late December, Jenkins noticed her credit card bill online had some unusual charges - two $116 bills at a florist. Jenkins said she hadn't bought any flowers and called the florist. They had her name, address and credit card number.”

“Jenkins then called the credit card company and told them what had happened. They transferred her to the fraud department where someone discovered there were a few more charges that hadn't yet showed up online. The thief even had "pinged" the account, which Jenkins described as someone making a $1 charge just to make sure the card works.”

So how did it happen?

This is the scary part.

As with many cases of identity theft, the victim has no clue how their personal data and credit card information was stolen. Its a total mystery to Janet Jenkins.

Ms. Jenkins said she hadn't lost her credit card and she only shops occasionally online. Yet, an identity thief acquired her card info, found her address and other personal information prior to making the illegal purchases - even though Janet's card never left her wallet.

Once again, the threat of identity theft appears to be on the rise.