Grandpa You Stole My Credit Identity
We've exposed sons, fathers, priests, policemen,
teachers & more all committing identity theft.
However, even this latest episode by a 71 year
old Florida man caused us to collectively shake
our heads in disbelief.
It seems this 71 year old Florida man, while a
suspect in "numerous" identity theft cases was
caught when a suspicious bank teller alerted
authorities during his attempt to cash a $4,770
check using a fake driver's license.
It turns out the check was forged which the
Florida thief evidently had previously been
successful in scamming other banks using the
same ploy. Detectives estimated this Florida
thief had stolen up to $200,000 by using
a fake driver's license or immigration ID
card to cash stolen and counterfeit checks.
What's disturbing about this man, at 71
years of age, is you normally consider that
time when most people are happily enjoying
their retired life as a grandparent. But,
this elderly identity theft and credit fraudster
took up a life of crime at the age of 51.
For the past 20 years, this recent identity
thief had previously been a frequent jail
guest for crimes such as fraud, larceny,
arson, burglary, molestation, & even battery
against a law enforcement officer.
What this track history tells us, especially
when combined with the other non-typical
criminals such as priests, policemen, kids,
fathers, etc. is that identity theft has
become the crime of choice in
America.
With the fact that now over 90 million
Americans have had their most sensitive
personal information needlessly exposed
or outright stolen in the past 1.5 years,
is that the odds of you too becoming
an identity theft victim is merely a
question of when - not if.
So, our tip for today is to arm yourself
against the army of identity thieves lurking
to steal your financial future, consider the
need to inspect your credit report for any
new accounts not opened by you. Secondly,
to catch the non-credit related offenses
committed in your name, get your public
information profile (PIP).
With your PIP in hand, thoroughly review
the pages of detailed information which
will illuminate for you when an identity
thief has done any of the following
crimes against your good name:
- Filed bankruptcy
- Generated arrest warrants
- Triggered liens against your property or person
- Been sued resulting in a cash judgment outstanding
- Acquired or Sold Real Estate fraudulently
- Any many more....
One of our subscribers was shocked to find out a
very similarly named man residing in a different
state half way across the country held a lengthy
criminal history of assault and battery along
with a recent bankruptcy resulting from extensive
debt and a poor job record.
That subscriber shared their personal story with us
of how that man's misdeeds kept him from
getting high paying executive level jobs because
his personal background checks would suddenly screen
him out with employers that had previously
been excited to hire him...that is until they
discovered his evil twin living in Ohio.
Imagine what an identity thief could be
doing to you right now, like the 71 year old
man, that you would not even find out until your
life was ruined?
3 Comments:
What has this world turned into when grandparents have the resources to steal 200k in check frauds? This whole securtiy issue has been such an inconvenience for everyone because I no longer feel safe swiping a credit/debit card at even the grocery store because it seems like as soon as I drop the card 10 people are pearing in writing down the number.
Since there is no immediate solution to all of our identity fraud issues, we just need to be careful and always keep track of our assets. Anything else you can think of agent?
Nathan:
There's several immediate strategies you can deploy:
Set up automatic monitoring of your banking and credit accounts.
Get your public records profile checked out along with your credit report.
Opt out of the major marketing and credit databases.
Eliminate your personal paper trail by shredding and moving to on-line statement delivery.
Agent, thank you for those tips you provided to Nathan.
Actually I found those tips would be good for just about anyone to utilize.
Especially since we now also have to watch out for identity theft old geezers.
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