Identity Theft Stories
Shared stories of people who were victims of identity theft. ID theft stories are an important way for you to see first hand how someone got their identity stolen and what they did about it. Also it is important for people who are victims of identity theft to file "Victim's Statements" to impress upon the judge and others the severity of identity theft and the pain and suffering it caused you.
An employer stole her employee's identity from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Linda went to work for Bari in July of 1997. As part of the requirements for the job Bari asked Linda for her social security number, date of birth and a copy of her drivers license. One week after Linda started working Bari got a cell phone using Linda's personal information. Bari then went on to apply for credit cards in Linda's name. Bari used these credit cards and the cell phone for 5 months before Linda became aware of it. Linda found out when she received a final notice before collection in November 1997. Due to Linda's work with the local police department and district attorney Bari was prosecuted for identity theft. Linda still had to contact the credit bureaus to put a lock on her credit status for many years.
When you file a change of address with the post office make sure that is goes through from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
This person moved apartments and filed a change of address form with the US Post Office. The post office then did not forward the mail to the new address but kept delivering the person's mail to their old address. The people that moved into the old address just left the person's mail in the commons area of the apartment complex. Someone picked up the person's bank statements and various credit card applications, filled them out and got credit cards. The person who moved apartments then became an identity theft victim. So the advice from this person is when changing your address look for a notice from the post office sent to your new address confirming that your address was changed. Also send specific change of address letters to your bank, and credit card companies.
Identity theft victim Michelle Brown's Written Testimony to US Senate Hearing on Identity Theft from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
This testimony of Michelle Brown is a very long and detailed account a woman who had her identity stolen. The story is amazing to me because the identity thief just kept using the person identity over 1 1/2 years to obtain over $50,000 of goods and services. The thief bought a truck in the victims name, got a drivers license in the victims name, rented apartments in the victims name, smuggled 3,000 pounds of marijuana in the victims name, etc. It is an unbelievable but true story of what can happen to an identity theft victim.
Stancy Nesby a victim of criminal identity theft was detained, arrested, or jailed 7 times over 15 months from San Francisco Chronicle
Stancy Nesby was pulled over for speeding, arrested and jailed for 3 days on mistaken identity. It happens that a judge issued a warrant for Stacy Nesby's arrest after another woman arrested for cocaine possession gave Stacy's name to the judge and then skipped her court date. The surprising issue with this mistaken identity case is that each time Ms. Nesby was mistakenly arrested the police eventually figured it out and told her that the warrant would be corrected. However nobody corrected this warrant and Stancy was arrested, jailed or detained 7 times by 5 police department for the same mistake. She had to sue the City of San Francisco and finally a judge required that the warrant be corrected after almost 4 years of the nightmare. It's an amazing true story about how difficult it can be to get mistaken identity corrected. See the video below about her titled "Criminal Identity Theft" from CNN.
Victim of Identity Theft had $265,000 of purchases taken out in his name over 4 months. from CBS News
John Harrison was a victim of identity theft in 2001 when a man named Jerry Phillips went on a spending spree with Harrison's identity. Phillips purchased a motorcycle, two cars and many items from Home Depot and Lowes and from department stores like Sears and JC Penny. When Phillips was finished he has purchased $265,000 worth of good in Harrison's name. Jerry Phillips was caught and sent to jail for 3 years but John Harrison has spent years trying to convince creditors that the debt is not his.
Child Identity Theft Story - Never too Young to have your identity stolen from New York Times
Gabriel Jimenez who was 25 in 2007 had his identity stolen as a child. He found out when his mother filed a tax return with the IRS, when he was 11, for some modeling work that he did. The scary thing about this identity theft horror story is that his mother notified the police, the IRS and the Social Security Administration at that time but the problems continued. Several years later she found the illegal alien who was using her son's social security number and the man asked her if he could keep using her son's social security number and he would let her have his tax refund. She told the man to stop using her son's social security number. When Jimenez when to college at Northwestern University he was denied basic utility services like gas, electricity and telephone service because they said he already had accounts. Jimenez still has credit problems from this horror story and is still a victim of child identity theft.
Medical Identity Theft Stories - Thieves are stealing your medical identity to get healthcare from NBCNews.com
There are several examples of medical identity theft in this story in the NBC News Health Care section. One woman had her 1 week old baby's identity stolen and it was used to visit a clinic and get OxyContin for a back injury. Another woman's drivers license was stolen and used by a methamphetamine user to have a baby at a hospital. The identity theft victim had to fight child protective services who wrongly believed she had given birth to a baby who had tested positive for drugs. See the video below. While it is estimated that there are over 250,000 cases of health care fraud reported last year this is a small portion of identity theft cases, victims of medical identity theft can lose their health coverage right when they need it. So it is important to pay attention to this crime and protect yourself by looking at your medical bills and following up on statement errors or services that you don't know about.
Man endures 17 year Identity Theft Nightmare and finally sees the criminal convicted from New York Times
David Dahlstrom lost his wallet in Utah in 1985 and is still dealing with the fallout. He had his social security card, birth certificate and driver's license in the lost wallet. A illegal immigrant, Yorck Rogge, who is a German citizen, was first arrested in 1990 under Mr. Dahlstrom's name for DUI in Los Angeles. Mr. Rogge was tried for 81 counts of identity theft and fraud and was finally convicted of ten counts of identity theft and one count of forgery. Rogge was sentenced to 3 years of jail. Rogge will face a deportation hearing after he does his time. The fact is that is not a lot of time in jail for the pain and suffering that Mr. Dahlstrom still has to go through on a daily basis after having his identity destroyed. Another article about Mr. Dahlstrom's id theft story from Kiplinger. This Man Stole My Identity from Kiplinger.com and Victim Still Struggling to Clear his Name of Crimes from ABC News.
Computer Identity Theft - One man's ID Theft Nightmare his identity was stolen by keylogger malware on his computer from MarketWatch.com
Crouse had some $900,000 dollars taken from his debit card in six months. He eventually figured out that it was probably keystroke malware that had infected his computer and allowed the criminals to obtain access to all his online accounts and commit fraud in his name. Mr. Crouse used his computer for online banking and shopping. After he found out that he had been a victim of identity fraud he opened a new bank account at a different bank and the criminals hacked that bank account the next day using information they obtained with the malware keylogger that they put on his computer. Crouse who had a doctorate in organizational psychology had worked with the FBI and Secret Service before this but was getting turned down for contract jobs because they said his credit reports were poor and his financial debts were increasing all due to the identity theft. As of 2010 Crouse was still trying to get out of a mountain of debt and had to take a lower paying job because he lost his security clearance.
VICTIMS OF IDENTITY THEFT TELL THEIR STORIES ON VIDEO
