The question you have probably been asking yourself throughout this entire book is…”What is my liability in this situation”? Well unfortunately that answer is fairly complex and is dependant on the type of identity theft that has occurred, as well as the timeliness in which you have responded and taken action to correct the problem. In some cases, victims are able to identify and act on the problem quickly resulting in very minimal financial loss. Other particular situations have not worked out quite so well and have resulted in substantial financial debt and a very poor credit rating, which can take years and years to repair.

Let me tell you about a few specific cases of identity theft in where the victim truly ended up as the injured party in more ways than one.

Actual Identity Theft Victim Cases

A gentleman in San Diego, California (we’ll call him John Jones), encountered an identity thief who opened a PayPal account under John’s name and filtered $7,600 from John’s Bank of America account into the forged PayPal account. The incident occurred during July and August of 2002 but because John had been traveling he did not notice the money was actually missing until January of 2003. He contacted his bank and was informed that because he had failed to notify the bank within 60 days of the occurrence there was nothing they could do for him. By that time all of the money, with the exception of $2,100 still remaining in the PayPal account had been spent. PayPal returned the remaining sum to John but he was still out $5,000. John sued both PayPal and Bank of America in small claims court, pleading that PayPal should have notified him immediately upon discovering the fraud. Bank of America counter argued that it is the customer’s responsibility to regularly check bank statements and ensure their accuracy. In the end John walked away with a settlement from each of the firms, however was still out approximately $500 as a result. His yearlong battle to turn things right was extensive, time consuming and frustrating.

An elderly woman in Seattle, Washington (we’ll call her Jane Doe), was the victim of a telemarketing scam in December of last year. Jane provided her checking account information to the caller and later found that her account had been cleaned of $800, leaving her overdrawn by $300. When her December Social Security check was deposited the Bank of America withdrew $300 of it to cover the overdraft. Jane was left with barely enough money for food and rent and was forced to “skip” Christmas that year. By February the Bank of America had returned some of the money to her and was continuing to work with her to repair the situation.

A retired California couple (let’s call them the Smiths), were also the victims of identity theft in April of 2001. The Smiths, when attempting to refinance their home mortgage discovered that there was $75,000 in unsettled debts on an account that they had held with this particular mortgage company over a year ago. This was very strange, as they knew they had settled their debt and closed that account a year earlier. It seems that an identity thief had re-opened the account and switched the original mailing address to one in Houston Texas, which is why the Smiths had never received any bills or statements for that account. After three months of phone calls and paperwork, the Smiths had finally received confirmation from the mortgage company that they were not being held responsible for the debt. However, in December of 2003 the Smiths received a notice from the mortgage company’s Financial Services Network that they were being sued for $75,000 plus attorney’s fees for their negligence in not discovering and reporting the identity theft in a timely manner, and thus causing injury to the mortgage company. The Smiths hired a lawyer who specialized in identity theft cases and who was eventually successful in convincing the company to drop the lawsuit. The remaining bad news in this case is that the lawsuit was dropped “without prejudice”, meaning that the firm could resurrect the case in the future should they choose to do so. The Smiths endured this nightmare for almost a three-year period and still the possibility of future incidents hang over their head.

This last case that I want to share with you is more than horrific but thankfully took place prior to the United States Congress making the act of Identity Theft a federal crime. Although this is certainly not something that this victim is thankful for in anyway, but we can take comfort in knowing that an incident like this would result in a very different ending in today’s times. In this particular situation the criminal who was already a convicted felon accumulated more than $100,000 in credit card debt, applied for and obtained a federal home loan, bought homes, motorcycles and handguns in the victims name. The criminal went so far as to even calling the victim and taunting him with the fact that because identity theft was not a federal crime he could continue his charade for as long as he wanted to and nothing would happen. The criminal eventually filed for bankruptcy in the victim’s name while in the meantime the victim spent over $15,000 and four years in efforts to clear his name and re-establish his credit. In the end the criminal was not reprimanded in any way and never paid back one cent to the victim. His only punishment was serving a brief sentence due to the fact that he made a false statement when he purchased his firearm.

Have you constantly been hearing reports about identity theft crimes? Do you have any idea about what identity theft is?

What is Identity Theft?

It is the stealing of your personal data like your social security number, licenses number, credit card and bank account numbers, and even your other’s maiden name. You will not like the effects identity theft can have on your life.

Consider this scenario: You are out shopping. You get to the checkout and decide to use your credit card. You find your card is rejected. No funds available or you are up to your credit limit.For the first time you discover that someone else has been using your identity to buy something.

For this, you will have to make significant actions to avoid your identity being stolen from you. It will take years to clear this sort of issue up if you experience this. Prevention is the best thing that you can do.

How will you prevent yourself from identity theft?

At Home:

• If you have roommates, use outside assistance, or finish your work in your home, ensure that your personal data is always kept safe.

• Place your outgoing mail in the post office collection box or else mail it at the nearest post office, rather than putting it is an unsafe mailboxes. Remove your mail from your mailbox as soon as possible. If you have to travel on a business trip or holiday and will not be able to collect your mail, make arragements with the post office or a trusted neibour and ask them to hold of all your mail.

• Destroy or keep in a secure place all your bill receipts, duplicates of credit requests, insurance applications, doctor’s prescriptions, and other important mail about you that you have received from your mailbox.

At Work:

• Inquire about data safety guidelines in your office or at any businesses, physician’s clinic or other establishments that ask for your personal identification data. Try to know who has the access to all your personal data and confirm it is held safely.

On the Internet:

• If you are making business transactions online, read thoroughly about the confidentiality and safety announcements. If possible, try to know about the people who have your personal information. Make sure that your personal data is handled properly. If for example you hear negative feedbacks about the company, do not do business with them again.

• You can use your Pay Pal. You can move a restricted number of finances into your pay pal account and utilize it to purchase goods online rather than using your credit card.

• Avoid giving your personal data over the telephone, via email, or online unless you have started, the contact or you already know the person with whom you are doing business.

• Before you give any of your personal data, verify that you a doing business with a legal entity. You can always check for their website on the internet. Be alert when answering to promotions. Identity stealer may generate promotional offers on the telephone to make you give them your personal data.

Are there identity theft insurance? Will you purchase one for you?

There are companies that provide insurance againt identity theft. They can give you protection against the effects of identity theft. You still need to be alert with creditors and the transactions you make with them. You still need to determine if dealing with them is safe. Insurance companies are not capable to preventing identity theft. Only you can do that.

As for other services, make sure that you know what is being offered before you avail yourself of it. If you want to purchase identity theft insurance, investigate the company through the Better Business Bureau and other legal agencies to find out if they are reliable and have no complaints on record.

As a conclusion, always be alert and and on guard. If someone asks for your personal information, may it be a friend, acquaintance, business, ask for the reason why they want it from you.

Know why they want your information, what are they going to do with your personal identification, how will it be kept stored, who the person to know it are, and how will it be secured.

If the person answers to your satisfaction, then he or she is worththy of your trust. You can provide them with your information.