Handling an Identity Thief Safety First
As dealer prepare to comply with the FTCs new Red Flag Rules, they may also want to review their policies regarding the handling of someone suspected of being an identity thief. The law does NOT require you to report a suspect and indeed, there may be potential liability in doing so, but there is also the very real possibility of the suspect moving on to another dealership and duping them.
Randy Hendrick, associate general counsel at Dealertrack, Inc. and a member of the National Association of Dealer Counsel (NADC), suggests that dealers think first about the safety of dealership personnel and customers and try to avoid confrontation. Get the suspect out of the dealership quickly and quietly without indicating you know they are an identity thief, he says, adding, you never know if the person is going to be violent.
Next, you can notify the local police department and also take down the suspects license plate number, though the police are not likely to be able to do anything since the dealership was not damaged. Depending upon how civic minded you are, you can also call the FBI, he says.
How you handle identity thieves is a matter of choice, but the first priority should always be safety, he says.
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