By Daryl Campbell
His hard earned money? Gone. Creditors on his back everyday. Thecops knocking on his door. His family strained to the breakingpoint. He didn't do anything wrong but my business partner'slife got turned upside down afew years back. He became a victimof what is now the fastest growing crime in the world. Identitytheft.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, since 1999 over 27million people in the US alone became victims of this epidemic10 million more last year. Harris InterActive,a marketingresearch company, reports that between 2002 and 2003 moreroughly 19,178 people per day fell victim.
Your identity can be stolen in many ways. For my partner, thethief gained access to his social security number and addressthen applied for a series of loans in his name. When the billscame due, guess who the creditors and law enforcement heldaccountable?
He and his family felt the full impact. Identity theft cancripple and even destroy a person's life. The time loss tryingto recover your identity as well as the out of pocket expenseU.S.Treasury Secretary John Snow calls identity theft "thegreatest threat to consumers and far more insidious and harmfulto our national welfare than many people realize." The internetdoesn't make it any better with its almost limitless access toinformation but a great deal of identity theft still comes fromthe offline world. Wherever it comes from the goal stays thesame. To get your personnal information and steal what belongsto you for as long as possible.
In many cases, this can lead to the victim filing for bankruptcyor worse. As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, one man whoseidentity got stolen recently spent 54 days in jail beforeauthorities realized their mistake.
Yet even when the thief finally gets caught, victims find outall too often the worse part still lies ahead. The recovery oftheir identity. For my partner, that meant never ending battleswith the same credit bureaus that previously gave him goodratings.
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 went thru theroof. He paid more for everything but still got declined. Withall of this came the burden and fear of him not knowing if hewould ever recover his identity. Six years later he finally did.He started working with a company that within 90 days restoredhis credit. His mortgage rate dropped and he went back to payingfull price for 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 for grantedwhat you have because anybody could take it away - I mean at thesnap of a finger."
He would know. The ways of stealing an identity have turned thiscrime from nuisance to worldwide crisis
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