Dad, I Stole Your Identity and Ruined Your Credit

Here's one gift you don't want for Father's Day!

A son fraudulently obtained more than $122,000
in credit as part of his identity theft crime spree
for over 1 year against his very own father.

The Rhode Island youth, a former participant on the "Wife Swap"
reality TV show, himself got a dose of real world justice when
he was arrested for identity theft and obtaining money under
false pretenses.

Unbelievably, the father only discovered the identity theft fraud
against his name when a credit card company contacted
him for payment on overdue balances.

The "real" tragedy in this story, is that a son would even commit
identity theft against his own father. Surprisingly, there's a
significant amount of identity theft which takes place whereby
the thief knows the victim.

In the case of the son, he took advantage of the fact he was a
"Jr." who shared the same first and last name as his
father.

Unfortunately, though, "Jr." now has a felony arrest on his record
and will most likely find it extremely difficult to ever get
credit or a decent job.

So, our tip for today, is to make sure your kids fully understand
identity theft is a serious crime. For parents, to further
protect yourself from the youthful indiscretion as Jr., it's
wise to take advantage of automatic credit monitoring as well
as opting out from pre-approved credit solicitations printed
in your name.

Finally, check out your driving record as well
to insure Jr. hasn't set you up for arrest warrants, too.