The new poster child for identity theft: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve and identity theft victim

These days when we talk about identity theft, it’s usually in the context of the hazards of someone cyber-mining your information. Experts say beware of exposing yourself online — like by posting your birthdate on Facebook — because those with criminal intent can collect disparate information from various sites and then invade your accounts, open credit lines in your name, and/or empty your bank account.

(Here are some easy ways to prevent that.)

But oftentimes, identity theft stems from mundane real-world theft. Such was the case for Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, after someone snatched his wife’s purse from the back of a chair at a Capitol Hill Starbucks. The purse had her driver’s license, Social Security card, credit cards, and a Wachovia check book for the Bernankes’ joint account, including their bank-account number, home address, and telephone number:

Last summer, just as he was dealing with the first rumblings of the financial crisis on Wall Street, Bernanke learned that a thief had swiped his wife’s purse—including the couple’s joint check book. Days later, someone started cashing checks on the Bernanke family bank account, the documents show. “It’s fair to say he was not pleased,” said one close associate of Bernanke, who asked not to be identified discussing what the Fed chairman considers a private matter.

The theft of the Bernanke check book—never publicly revealed until now—soon became part of a wide-ranging (and previously underway) identity-theft investigation by the Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The probe culminated in recent months with a series of arrests, criminal complaints, and indictments brought by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Va. The targets: members of a nationwide ring that used an inventive combination of old-fashioned thievery and high-tech fraud to loot the bank accounts of unsuspecting victims.

via Bernanke Victimized by Identity Fraud Ring | Newsweek.com.

Bernanke was one of hundreds of victims of a $2.1 million identity-fraud scam run by a criminal mastermind known as “Big Head.” Read more at Newsweek.

The lesson here: Watch where you put your Social Security number online, but also watch where you set your purse. And c’mon, be smarter than Mrs. Bernanke and don’t keep your Social Security card in your wallet!

Hopefully, Ben Bernanke — recently re-appointed to another four-year term as Federal Reserve chairman — is better at preventing more financial meltdowns than he is at preventing identity theft.

(Thanks for sending, Missy.)