Identity Theft in the News - Heard it on the Radio

According to statistics compiled by law enforcement agencies, Texas along with California, Nevada, New York, Washington and Arizona are states with the highest incidents of identity theft.

There are types of identity theft that determine the ranking for each state including employment related fraud, credit card, bank, phone and utilities and several others. But undoubtedly the last type of fraud that Texans expected to find themselves dealing with is the one off the radio.

Yet that is exactly where Clifford Wayne Robertson has taken them. Robertson has (or had) a radio talk show out of Dallas that discusses and helps its listeners with investment strategies. But according to the FBI, that's not the only thing Robertson has helped himself to.

Michael Anderson is assistant special agent in charge: "You've got a one-man wrecking crew here that is crossing the board on all types of criminal violations -- whether it be identity theft, mortgage fraud, investment fraud, Ponzi schemes."

Robertson allegedly started his wrecking business in 2007 when he attempted to use someone's personal information to get financing for one of his business ventures. But things started to close in on him earlier this year when some consumers who had the misfortune of dealing with Robertson took their complaints public.

Station WFAA out of Dallas interviewed some victims of Robertson's latest scam which bilked a number of people out of their life savings. Among them William Hunt who turned over 70,000 dollars to Robertson to invest in a property which was later found to be totally dilapidated.

How did Roberson get Hunt to turn over his hard earned money? "It sounded pretty good," Hunt said. "This guy will take you, teach you, coach you, provide all the rehab, help you with all the paperwork [and] have all the attorneys. We bought stuff sight unseen. We took Cliff's word for it and trusted this guy."