Investigators go dumpster diving

His crime was identity theft. His purpose: to spend as much as he could steal.
 
"They were spending 6-thousand here and 7-thousand dollars there and in addition to that, my bank account was being changed in such a way they were taking money out of my bank account almost everyday for a period of time," the victim told us.
 
This man doesn't want to reveal his identity but what happened to him could happen to any one of us. While away on business for six weeks, he had his identity stolen and his credit destroyed. When he returned, there were dozens of calls from merchants saying he owed money. But he had never applied for credit cards from any of those stores. Postal inspectors say Ray Slaughter did by stealing victims' personal identifiers.

Jerry Phillips, a U.S. Postal Inspector, said, "Name, date of birth, social security number, anything that it would take to open up a credit card in the victims name."
 
Sometimes taking out eight to 10 credit cards with one victim's information and going on a shopping spree.
 
"Home Depot, Sears, Visa, Master Card, American Express," Phillips told us those were among the charge accounts opened.
 
Inspectors were tipped off to the case after a victim realized her credit card statements had been changed to a new address and "not" by her.
 
"We drove by the house several times doing conducting surveillance," Phillips said. 
 
Then, inspectors waited for trash day. After Slaughter's trash was picked up, inspectors found what they needed.
 
Phillips explained what they did. "Go through the trash and then we would find numerous evidence of the crime. There would be a lot of credit cards ripped up, a lot of statements in the victim's name."
 
Slaughter was arrested and served a year and a half in prison. But when he got out, the victim told us something shocking.
 
"He tried to steal my identity again," he said.
 
In all, there were 26 victims who lost thousands. Slaughter is behind bars again but his victims are still reeling from his crime.
 
"It destroyed my credit. It absolutely destroyed my credit. My credit went as low as it could possibly go, and it took a year and a half and a lot of money to get it fixed."
 
Inspectors say all consumers should get a free yearly credit report to stay on top of all their credit card activity. Also, monitor all of your bank statements online each month. That could help you find any discrepancies quickly.