CTA Employee Charged with Identity Theft

By Margaret Lyons in News on Oct 23, 2007 5:47PM

Mercy, CTA. Uncle. Whatever you want. We give up. You're eliminating every bus we ever take, charging us more for every packed, smelly ride, and now, you're stealing our identities, too.

CTA customer service rep Miranda Smith was arrested last week and charged with official misconduct, one count of aggravated identity theft, and three counts of identity theft. (Aggravated identity theft means the victim is over 60 or disabled, or that the crime occurred "in furtherance of the activities of an organized gang.") A CTA customer noticed unauthorized activity on his or her credit card and contacted the agency, and they launched an investigation. Turns out they weren't the only ones. A few days later, the Police Department was on the case, too.

According to the CTA's press release, "in the course of her duties, Smith periodically handled inquiries from customers that required credit card transactions. She has admitted to using credit card numbers for personal gain." Smith didn't have access to the entire system, just the calls she handled herself--373 in all. So far, "the CTA believes that the number of victims may be approximately 10% of the customers she handled." The CTA is contacting those people, but if you notice weird activity on your card and think it's the CTA's fault, contact 312-681-2952.