After several years of ACRE conductors being victimized by identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission has acknowledged that Metro-North conductors will continue to be violated by
this crime and that special consideration should be provided to our members.

Federal law mandates that once it is proven that someone is a victim of identity theft, all three major credit bureaus must place a seven year fraud alert on that person's credit files. However, without literally being victimized by identity theft, the credit bureaus are under no obligation to provide this service. After approximately ten percent of all Metro-North conductors were victimized by identity theft, it became apparent that all conductors were identity theft victims, not just those already infringed upon.

ACRE NYS Legislative Representative Ken Curry applied for class action status for our conductors and assistant conductors with the Federal Trade Commission. After a thorough investigation and the assistance of the MTA Police, the FTC granted our members class status, and directed all the reporting agencies to issue our conductors and a/c’s Fraud Alert protection

for seven years. Our conductors and a/c’s will be receiving letters in the mail from all three reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) notifying them of the action they are taking. Under our class action status there is no charge and no one may open an account at any store or credit card company without a phone call being made to you. There will be additional information on this important issue in our upcoming newsletter. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ken Curry in our union office.