ID theft called No. 1 crime of millennium

The Clarion Ledger ^ | 12/27/01 | Jimmie E. Gates

[truthandlife]

Dorothy O'Briant of Holmes County said she worked hard to establish credit, and then someone stole it by stealing her identity.

"It was like a slap in the face," O'Briant said Wednesday, recounting when she found out in June that someone had stolen her identity to charge at least $6,000 in merchandise to her.

[End Times Sentinel]

This happened to my wife and I 3 years ago, when a box of checks was left on our doorstep by the mailman.

Although we closed the bank account immediately upon realizing this, stores continued to take checks for another 3 months. We still get calls from collection agencies trying to get us to pay for the bad checks and getting this “cleared up” is much harder than you might think. The stores/collection agencies have no interest or incentive to accept the fact that the check is fraudulent.

[proxy_user]

Time to take action. The businesses who open these accounts are careless and deserve to be sued. Since YOU (the person whose identity was stolen) do not have a real business relationship with them, the arbitration agreements in the contract the identity thief signed does not apply, and you may sue these businesses in your local small claims court for your actual cost of cleaning up the problem. Just make sure you have everything properly documented and be sure to follow up properly.

Sorry to have to be so rough, but brute force is the only thing respected in our society. If enough people do this, businesses will think twice about extending credit without proper controls.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

This just happened last month to my daughter and her husband. They may not be responsible for the charges, but it is on them to prove they never opened new accounts or made charges. They are guilty until they prove they did not do it.

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

Somebody got a hold of my credit card a few years ago and charged over $700 worth of stuff on it. I filed a dispute claim with the credit card company and got everything worked out. Citibank is excellent in handling customer service. It ticked me off though that the person charged $600 at one store and they didn't even check Identification.

[mvpel]

There was a billworking in California to ban the use of Social Security numbers on identification that would normally be carried on the person. Not sure what became of it.

[tarpon_bill]

Ir really takes little to get dinged. We went to Palm Beach. Visited friends. Bought gas, only thing we bought.

A few days later the card company called said I was in Morroco and bought room and board plus gifts at the hotel shop. Came to $700.

So when I told the card company I had only used the card once in the last year and that was in PB, they tracked it back to the merchant, who I later found out, was dealing card numbers.

I have a few cards with low low limits that I use when travelling, and only travelling. Makes it real easy to finger the guilty.

snooker