Victim Of Identity Theft!
If you were a Victim Of Identity Theft, What Would You Do? I read an article titled “To Catch an Identity Thief” and it got me thinking what people would do if this happened to them. After reading this post, ask yourself if you were a victim of identity theft like the lady mentioned below, what would you do?
The article was about a lady named Karen Lodrick and her life was a living hell after becoming a victim of identity theft. Because of our business I hear a lot of people say stupid things like “they can have my identity.” Really? This has to be one of the dumbest statements because they don’t truly understand how devastating being a victim of this crime can be to them and their families.
Karen ordered a latte at Starbucks while waiting nervously for the bank on San Francisco’s Market Street to open. She had been anxious and distracted of late but couldn’t help noticing the scruffy looking pair standing next to her: a tall man wearing a navy baseball jacket and a large woman in jeans and Gucci glasses, carrying a brown suede coat and a Prada wallet. The woman looked vaguely familiar. That coat. A cold tingle of fear ran through Karen as she took it all in. The distinctive faux-fur trim along its edges looked as unkempt as the woman who held it. And then BINGO she knew. Karen’s ID had been stolen five months before. Her bank account had been emptied, and her life sent reeling out of control. The coat she was looking at was the same one she’d seen in the bank surveillance tape, worn by the woman who’d stolen Karen’s ID.
The day before, Karen’s bank had called after closing hours to tell her that she’d left her driver’s license, but Karen had never been to that branch. And her real driver’s license was still in her wallet.
The two suspects were leaving the coffee shop so Karen decided to follow them while calling 911. The two separated, but Karen followed the women. She feared that if she didn’t act, the identity thief would disappear, along with any hope of ending her bad dream. The chase was on.
For the past five months, the thief used Karen’s accounts like they were her own private accounts. She scammed thousands and opened credit cards in Karen’s name. The banks couldn’t do a thing. The police could do nothing. Creditors demanded payment from Karen and when she closed those accounts, the thieves would open new ones and drain those too.
Following the woman Karen’s phone rang. “Unknown Caller.” Karen looked up the street and saw that the woman had her cell phone out. She was checking to see if the real Karen was following her, but Karen thought, where were the police?
Karen again called 911 as the woman kept her distance looking over her shoulder at Karen every few seconds.
This woman had been using Karen’s identity for the last five months making her life a living hell.
Karen remembers an odd voice mail from her bank waiting for her when she returned home to San Francisco from a family reunion in Michigan. Karen called back, and the service rep asked if she’d made any large withdrawals and mentioned one in the amount of $600. She assumed it was an error and asked the verification of the debit card number, but it wasn’t her card.
The bank representative insisted that someone had called from Karen’s phone to order the new debit card. Karen finally convinced the bank rep that it wasn’t hers, and he canceled it. What he failed to mention was that a second new debit card and it was still open.
Karen knew the thief had stolen $600, but not what the bank rep showed her screen after screen of dozens of withdrawals. About $10,000 was gone. Karen’s balance was zero plus overdraft deducted another $1,200 from savings to cover the shortfall after the thief had cleaned out the checking account.
Karen filed a police report, closed her now-empty account and submitted a claim. With no money to cover checks, she couldn’t pay her bills, her rent. She couldn’t even buy groceries. Late fees were compounded by black marks on her credit report. And that was just the beginning.
Let’s go back to one of the dumbest statements that I have ever heard again being “they can have my identity.” REALLY?
Karen continued to chase the woman, keeping the 911 operator on the phone to let her know exactly where they were. I can just picture Karen chasing after this woman like an old black and white movie. Her heart must have been beating a mile a minute, but living in her current hell that this lady has made of her life was much worse.
In her pursuit, she lost sight of the woman many times. Dodging through traffic, in stores, around parking lots and etc… Karen stayed on her tail somehow.
As the identity thief passed a shopping cart, the women tossed something inside. Karen raced to the cart picked up what she dropped and she told the 911 operator. “It’s a wallet. A Prada wallet.” Karen wanted to look inside, but she had no time.
The woman finally stopped and asked Karen, “Why are you chasing me?”
Karen now felt doubt and asked the woman to wait for the police. The women told Karen that she was on probation and would be arrested. Karen now had no doubt she’d found the right person. But she took off again and Karen kept after her.
When Karen was first approached by her bank on the surveillance video they had. Karen signed an affidavit that she didn’t know the woman, got a printout of her image, and that was it.
In the meantime, the women reached deeper into Karen’s life using Karen’s Social Security number and other information to get a counterfeit driver’s license, showing Karen’s license number but the thief’s picture. With the license and the Social Security number, she reopened accounts that Karen had closed years before.
Karen placed fraud alerts with the credit reporting agencies and her bank. But that didn’t stop the thief from opening more accounts in Karen’s name. Putting fraud alerts on accounts now days is sort of like crying wolf. It’s there, but not everyone pays attention to these alerts making you feel that you are protected when you are not.
The thief got into her new bank account, and the whole cycle began again. She was at her wit’s end. Now, with a phony driver’s license, the thief was stalking her third checking account.
Karen continued her chase, but when the suspect slipped in to a indoor parking garage, she lost her. She lost her and her life would continue to be a living hell. The police finally showed up, but it was too late, she was gone.
At this point Karen zipped open the Prada wallet and found two of her bank statements, two debit cards used to clean out her accounts, one of her own paychecks, but FREAKED her out the most were small cards with her name, Social Security number, driver’s license number and address on them.
Karen told the officer what had occurred, feeling little hope that he’d find the woman now, but only moments later, the officer found her crouched between a car and the building, smoking a cigarette.
“Idiot! You should have kept running,” Karen told her.
Epilogue
The arresting officer said the identity thief, Maria Nelson, had at least 60 prior arrests, was indeed on probation and was wanted in another jurisdiction for similar crimes. When Nelson came before a judge 44 days later, however, thanks to a plea deal with the prosecutor, she was sentenced to only time served plus probation.
Meanwhile, Karen keeps getting billed for phone service and items at a department store that she didn’t buy. And she fears her ID may have been sold on the black market, prolonging her nightmare.
Let’s go back to one of the dumbest statements that I have ever heard again being “they can have my identity.” REALLY?
Wow, that looks really scary I couldn’t imagine that this could happen. Actually in the beginning of this year someone hacked my email account and sent some scam messages to my contacts, fortunately I discover that the same day so the scammer didn’t make a lot of damage but it just shows that we are not safe and we should always be ready to deal with these situations…
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Kostas, My sister sent me an email today and it seems funny so I wrote her back and it wasn’t her. She was hacked too! Once you become a victim, you are 4 times as more likely to become a victim again. Not to frighten you, just stating a fact. If your account was hacked, make sure you scan your system for Malware and etc… This is just one way these crooks get access to all your online banking and other very important information.
I could say that is an unbelievable occurrence, except I know better. Identity theft is one of the most horrific things to have happen to anyone. But what I find even more incredible is that the police couldn’t do anything at ll about it and how much hard work Karen had to do just to try and bring her life back to a semblance of normal. Pretty Ugly stuff if you don’t have any help.
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Michael,
Exactly! Most people don’t realize how much time it takes to get it back to normal. In most cases it’s about 400-600 hours. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that type of time and wouldn’t know where to begin. With Kroll, you sign over a Limited Power of Attorney and they go to work for you on your behalf.
Dave
very scary…. identity theft is happening more and more often…
thank you Dave and Dawn….. we will all be very wise to follow your guidelines on this
Best wishes
Pete
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Wow such an exciting story! I thought that the thief had got caught at the end… I feel sorry about Karen. It’s incredible that the whole identity of ours could be stolen. I think I’ll have to take more care about these things.
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I would not be careless about my identity nor just say I do not care. I have seen it happen with my own mother stealing from my dad, 10 years after their divorce because she remembered his social security number and still went by the same last name. It is indeed an eye opener and this CAN happen to anyone at anytime.
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Nile, Like you stated, it happens to a lot of victims from the people they know best. People that have access to this important information can easily use it for the wrong purposes. There was a General in the military who had his identity stolen by his brother-in-law because he didn’t want to pay child support and his credit was already ruined. I find it funny how people will rob someone like this when they wouldn’t point a gun at someone to do the same.
One would think that identity thief is on the rise – with all the gizmo’s and gadgets people use everyday the risks are even more evident. Having Legal Shield watch your back will make sleeping much easier.
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Tim, I agree with your statement 100% and Legalshield watches our members backs by offering its members peace of mind from the traumatic to the trivial everyday life events!
I think this is really a big help and I want to thank you for sharing it to us here then…
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Hi Dave and Dawn,
Within the past month, I heard that millions of credit card numbers had been at risk when hackers gained access to the databases of TJ Max and Marshalls.
Last year my wife I had a weird and frustrating experience. It hurt our banking relationships, and my wife was unable to get a new PayPal debit card after she cancelled the one that a hacker was using. The weird part was that the perpetrator used my wife’s PayPal card to buy Facebook Credits on MY Facebook account to play Poker on my FB account! Weird! Then they ordered a $200. coffee machine online to be delivered to MY home address, and also subscribed to a childrens magazine to be mailed to MY addrerss. It seemed like they may have been vandals playing pranks.
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Buddy,
That TJ Max and Marshalls database breach took place in 2007 and people are still having to deal with the issues that one caused. The economy and companies cutting back makes these situations even worse. Organizations lack budget, resources and staff for effective access governance. Nearly twothirds (65 percent) say that not having enough IT staff was a key problem in enforcing access compliance policies. Fifty-seven percent of organizations do not have enough technologies to manage and govern end-user access to information resources and even more – 63 percent – do not have enough resources to do so.
I’m glad that you contacted me on getting our service and that you are looking out for your’s and Liz’s best interest. It’s better to have it and not have it happen, rather than have it happen and wish you had it!! You are a very smart man and that is one of the reasons I respect you so much.
Dave
That is very scary stuff.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all of the Financial Institution, from banks to credit card companies and credit report agencies became liable for all losses and possible punitive damages if they fail to act when told about identity theft.
Peter
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Peter,
Part of the problem to all of this is companies like LifeLock. You sign up for their services and the first thing they do is put fraud alerts on your accounts in the effort to make sure banks don’t open new accounts in your name unless they verify it. This action by these companies has made the situation even worse and it’s kind of like the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Banks see this all the time now and more than not, they let it slide. It’s like hiring a salary employee. You pay them the same whether they do a lot of work or they figure out how to do less and they get the same pay. Banks don’t want more work for the same pay and that is (in my opinion) why these fall through the cracks.
With the advancement of technology there appears to an increase of identity theft.
I agree it is not a very nice feeling when someone else uses your identity.
A short time ago I have my bank accounts hacked …. and as it was shown that I did not spend the money but someone else did without my knowledge or permission the bank refunded the full amount.
We do need to take good care of our identity as you have shown with the above post.
Thanks for sharing the Dave & Dawn.
Cheers
Bryan
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I hope you will continue share this kind of post very helpful and informative..Thanks for sharing..
Charline recently posted..Secure Websites With Online SSL Certifications
I was once a victim of identity theft. Of course, it pains my heart a lot but well life goes on. I just allowed that person to steal my identity. What do you think should I do?
Thanks for the advice in advance.
-Kierrie
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Get on the phone immediately. Call everyone. Your bank, credit card companies, state drivers license bureau, employer, social security, landlord, phone company, gas and electric company, birth certificate office where you were born, insurance companies, doctors, dentists, relatives, friends, and a good lawyer who is experienced with identity theft. Thank you for sharing some great info..
Wow, this is an amazing story. And a horrible one. Sometimes I don’t like all the “safety” precautions that people make when I write checks, etc., but this makes me glad for them. Almost. If things like this can happen in spite of all these safety checks, then something’s really wrong with the system. We can’t be too careful.
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Man, what are the chances of finding the person who stole your identity like that.
Could thing she didn’t catch that Karen character herself or there might be a little more craziness to add to the story.
Are you still dealing with cleaning up the identity mess? I wouldn’t even know where to start.
Preston,
Yes we help people deal with this stuff all the time, but it is better to prepay vs. post-pay. If you are already a victim of IDT, the cost is about $1,000 for Kroll to go to work for you plus any attorney costs. $$$ Most people don’t realize that if you do become a victim, most likely it is a legal matter just as much as an Identity Theft issue. Take the HIPAA rules for instance, your medical information is stolen and even you can’t view you records because of this rule. In this case, you need an attorney.
Very scary story! I wonder how Karen lost her info to the thief in the first place? I’m glad they at least caught the woman.
Yes Identity Shield is a welcome relief to know you are protected in a case like this!
Oh my, this is very alarming. I need to commend you for posting this. This post has raised the awareness of the public on the possibilities that may happen when our identities are stolen. I really feel bad for Karen.
Thanks for sharing!
Lea Dee
Hey there Dave… Great post!
I have been a police officer for 19 years (1 more until RETIREMENT Yahoo!) Sorry! Anyway. ID theft is one of the biggest complaints we take. And you’re right it can become a nightmare for the victim.
The most common place that folks information is being stolen from, is tax preparation services. 99.9% of the time, the person who is using your personal information is not the person who originally got access to it.
In most cases the “Leader” of the ring would pay some struggling employee at one of these places a nice chunk of change in exchange for access to clients information.
Once they got the information, they will then pay another person, usually someone down on their luck to use the information to make purchases or open various accounts.
It is a very common practice and I applaud you for sharing this information with your readers.
Anthony,
Unfortunately I’m sure that you see this all the time in your current position. Thank you for sharing your experience and insight here. Most people think that this is a top priority when it happens to them, but then realize that there really isn’t a lot law officers can do unless they have all the evidence of exactly what occurred. If a company like Kroll can track down Saddam Hussein paper trail of stolen money from Kuwait’s government, that is who I want on my side if it ever happens to us again!
Dave
Unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence these days, Dave. Thanks for the much-needed reminder to do everything possible to avoid this type of nightmare for each of us. Having protection like Legal Shield is certainly well worth the dollars spent (I really need to renew mine), but there are also many little precautions we can take along the way (although with the increase in user-friendly technology and internet commerce) it certainly is getting to be a greater and greater challenge, for sure!
Thanks for the comment Steve and you are correct. This is not at all rare these days and is getting even worse. Let us know if we can help you renew your membership as we would be more than happy to be of service. Dave
I just can’t believe this incredible story. If it wasn’t a true story, I would think if I read a detective book:)
Hi Dave….
ID theft is rapidly becoming one of the biggest nightmares for anyone to deal with. Karen’s story just gives us a glimpse into the problem. Thanks so much for writing this article and for sharing the story. Awareness and education are two keys to not becoming a victim. Although I do not promote the PPL business, we are customers and believe in the great value that PPL brings to the table. Thanks again for sharing…
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Thanks Martin, I’m glad to see that you are one of the smart ones taking necessary steps of protecting yourself these days. Good for you!
Private authority is really an important thing to preserved with, I’m so glad to know that there’s such an action to attain it.. Hopefully it will works to discover those theft identity.
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I know someone that went through this about a year ago and it was hell! There are so many people in that situation and knowing what to do will help so much. I guess knowing what to do is one thing but the best solution would be to talk to an expert about it so things get resolve fast and also to get tips so it does not happen again.
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Hi Dave & Dawn
Man…this is so scary. The days of remaining naive about this stuff are long over. These sleazy people are thinking of new ways every day to steal our identity and go out and rob us blind! Karen’s story was a very stark one, and I fear very typical. I knew a friend of a family member who went through something similar. You guys are providing a valuable service to the community!
The message I see here is that we have to be very AWARE at all times of everything going on around us. Thieves usually strike when we have our defenses down.
Very good article guys!
Laura
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After reading this sotry on identity theft I realised we can never be totally safe unless we are extra careful with everything we do , say and go.. thanks for this great advise being a big traveller, I should be more careful and remember that the human brain can paly naughty tricks sometimes;)
It’s all about mindset.And again I believe that with the right energy tools one can be protected and never attract such incidents, I have often tried my tools and thanks God Nothing of this kind of stories has happned to me;).
Thanks againand warm wishes,
Patricia
Thanks for sharing your useful story its really important to become secure always..
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Now that is a scary story. It is so amazing what people with do to each other, This is something that I have been thinking about getting, PROTECTION! With the use of debit card being so commone these days I am sure that the thieves out there are having a hay day with stealing from other law abiding citizens.
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Hello Joyce,
I just noticed your comment on our blog and wanted to thank you for visiting our site. You mentioned that with all the debit cards being so common that thieves are probably having a hay day. I just thought that you should know that financial (credit cards, bank account and things along these lines) ONLY accounts for about 24% of Identity Theft cases.
If you serious about protection and would like to talk about how our service does full RESTORATION vs. Resolution like all the others, Dawn and I would be happy to share our knowledge with you on this very important trend.
I hope you are doing well and please let us know if there is anything we can do to support your efforts within TSA or what have you!
Dave
I’ve never been a victim of identity theft, but this article should help me fight it out. It is a very well written article.
I found the statement “They can have my identity” to be a real funny one.
Has Karen faced any such problems after this incident?
Thanks for sharing.
-Kevin
I feel for her I have not had that experience, I did have one that got a hold of a checking account and went on a spree. They didn’t go deeper like this woman did. I feel fortunate then. We should always be on guard. I am amazed that they really can just let people go back into society and do it over and over.
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This is really scary.. We should really be aware of scammer and hackers.. Scammers are everywhere now..
That sounds like a horrible experience. I know that I have been guilty of leaving my purse on the table at restaurants open to the world to pilfer. I think after reading this story, I’ll be more careful from now on.
This is really scary. This article just made me more aware that identity thefts are just everywhere waiting for their next victim. Thanks for this very helpful article.
This information is provided to assist individuals who are victims or suspect they may be victims of identity theft. It is intended as a general guide, not as legal advice.
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This article hits home. I just got home from vacation and found out some joker has been using my Fedex account. Arghhh!
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Thanks for sharing this useful information. People will greatly get a lot of ideas on this blog in order to avoid someone to steal their identity. It is really freaking bad if this may able to happen to certain individual.
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I cannot imagine myself if it will happen to me especially I am not prepared in any situation like this. It is really hard to treated as a theft especially you are just wrongly identified. It is really a shame.
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It is really hard if someone is going to get your own identity. So, if you don’t want it to happen it is very essential to do the following tips. The tips can really help individuals to avoid this identity theft. So, protect our identity from the identity theft.
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It is really bad if someone will still your identity. So, in order not to experience this one, it is necessary to follow the suggestions on this post. Thanks for sharing this learning to us. These could help us avoid this identity theft.
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