Identity Theft : They Got Him
His hard earned money? Gone. Creditors on his back everyday. Police knocking on his door. His family strained to the breaking point. He didn't do anything wrong but my business partner's life got turned upside down a few years back. He became a victim of what is now the fastest growing crime in the world. Identity theft.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, since 1999 over 27 million people in the US alone became victims of thisepidemic 10 million more last year. Harris InterActive,amarketing research company, reports that between 2002 and2003 roughly 19,178 people per day fell victim.
Your identity can be stolen in many ways. For my partner,the thief gained access to his social security number andaddress then applied for a series of loans in his name. Whenthe bills came due, guess who the creditors and law enforcement held accountable?
He and his family felt the full impact. Identity theft cancripple and even destroy a person's life. Not just the time losstrying to recover your identity but also the out of pocketexpense. U.S.Treasury Secretary John Snow calls identitytheft "the greatest threat to consumers and far moreinsidious and harmful to our national welfare than manypeople realize."
The internet doesn't make it any better with its almostlimitless access to information but a great deal of identitytheft still comes from the offline world. Wherever it comesfrom the goal stays the same. Get your personnalinformation and steal what belongs to you for as long aspossible.
In many cases, this can lead to the victim filing forbankruptcy or worse. As reported by the Orlando Sentinel,one man whose identity got stolen recently spent 54 days injail before authorities realized their mistake.
Yet even when the thief finally gets caught, victims findout all too often the worse part still lies ahead. Therecovery of their identity. For my partner, that meant neverending battles with the same credit bureaus that previouslygave him good ratings.
They destroyed his credit almost overnight eventhough he dideverything they told him to get it restored. The agenciesrefused to clear his record and instead, started sharing hisinformation with each other. His mortgage rates wentthru the roof. He paid more for everything but still gotdeclined. With all of this came the burden and fear of himnot knowing if he would ever recover his identity.
Six years later he finally did. He started working with acompany that within 90 days restored his credit. Hismortgage rate dropped and he went back to paying full pricefor everything like the rest of us.
And like my partner, all of us risk becoming victims. In SanAntonio Texas, television station KENS 5 spoke with a manconvicted of identity theft who warned "Don't take forgranted what you have because anybody could take it away - I mean at the snap of a finger."
He would know. The ways of stealing an identity have turnedthis crime from nuisance to worldwide crisis.
Daryl Campbell is a technical and screenplay writer and CEO of Campbell Marketing, L.L.C. His website winthemarket.com, mini-sites, and articles submitted to ezines help the reader to grow and protect their internet marketing business.
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