SALT LAKE CITY — Every day, Colton Gardner gets new letters from business accounts he never opened.

"From Chase, from Wells Fargo, from Amazon, from Fingerhut," said Gardner as he thumbed through a huge stack of envelopes. "Every day, I find new letters from business accounts."

The University of Utah finance major did not know his name, address, birthdate, even Social Security number was in someone else's hands — until he got a phone call one day from Apple.

"And they said," Gardner recounted, "we just wanted to confirm that you ordered $3,000 of gift cards online. And I said, 'No, I did not do that.'"

Turns out the gift cards were bought with a Barclays credit card opened in Gardner's name. Apple cancelled the order and Gardner immediately called Barclays.

"They cancelled my credit card account that had been opened that day in my name, with my Social Security number and all my contact information," said Gardner.

Not over yet

But trouble kept brewing for Gardner.

"Perpetually every day, I learn (that) more and more and more accounts have been opened in my name."

Not only did the thief open fraudulent accounts, he hacked his way into Gardner's real bank accounts.

"He hadn't yet transferred any money out of my accounts," said Gardner, "but he had gone in and changed my email address to a new email address that he created that looked just like mine. He changed the contact phone number and things like that."

Gardner says it's only natural for people to check to see if there's any fraudulent activity on their accounts, but he never thought about checking the account information itself.

"I didn't think to check my email address and even if I had glanced at that — I wouldn't have noticed on a regular basis that it had been changed," said Gardner.

'I took it into my own hands'

The new email on the account bore a Comcast domain name, so Gardner called Comcast to shut it down. But that process, he says, turned out to be very cumbersome. A representative explained to him he had to fax in five or so forms saying that his identity had been stolen. The fax, he says, had to be sent in from a Comcast store.

"That was the point I took it into my own hands and began to break into my own account, per se," said Gardner. "I actually had to call Comcast and say, 'Hey, I actually forgot my password, can you help me with it?' And so I broke down a little bit of the wall, piece by piece, calling one Comcast representative and saying I need my phone number reset and they would reset it for me. I'd hang up and call another rep, and they would reset my password."

Once Gardner got access into the fraudulent Comcast account set up by the alleged thief, he began to see the depth of the problem.

"I had found things I hadn't discovered yet," said Gardner. "I found Discover Card applications, student loan applications, home mortgage applications, other gift cards that were ordered and meant to be sent to a personal email."

Among the finds: a pre-paid Visa card opened in Gardner's name.

"This card was a unique card, I still don't fully understand it," said Gardner. "But you actually register with your Social Security number with this card. So, it's actually on my credit report now."

Found footage

Gardner contacted Visa, and he says Visa told him it had been used at a gas station in Woods Cross. The station had surveillance video.

"They were actually able to show me footage of the thief, the moment he purchased a four-pack of beer with this card he had opened in my name," said Gardner. "He looks around, he fidgets with his wallet — kind of deciding what card he should use. He eventually pulls it out and uses it."

Exterior video also showed the alleged thief walking to an extended-stay hotel next door.

"Just as a guess, I went over and I talked to the manager," said Gardner. "She was very helpful and willing to go look at the security footage from the gas station. We went over the footage with her and some other employees from the hotel and immediately, they said, 'That looks like the guy in 317. That's him!'"

Gardner says he was able to get a name of the alleged thief and found out the man was renting a postal box from a Salt Lake City business.

Recently, the hotel cleaned out the room because the man in room 317 hadn't shown up for several days. In the room they found documents with Gardner's name, Social Security number and birth date, and his parents' information, too.

"For all I know, he works close to me. He lives in an apartment close to me," said Gardner. "Was I targeted? How did he get my information? At this point, I still don't know exactly how he got my information."

A new fight begins

Gardner has turned all the evidence he's collected over to the police. He says he hasn't suffered any monetary loss, but he expects his credit will suffer as he fights to regain his identity.

"I've put a permanent freeze — not just a fraud alert, but a freeze on my credit. So I can't even actually go in and apply for any kind of credit card or anything that will check my credit until I remove that freeze. Maybe I'll just keep that on for years."

Let's face it: We're all not all do-it-yourself private detectives, so what can you do if you found you've become a victim — or to prevent yourself from becoming one?

First, shred anything with personal information on it. Your trash is a thief's treasure.

Next, put a freeze on your credit before it's too late. It prevents anyone from applying for any type of credit card or loan in your name until you remove the freeze.

Finally, check your credit report. You can get a free one every four months by staggering your requests through annualcreditreport.com.

Contributing: Debbie Dujanovic

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