It’s the perfect evening. The children are at the babysitter and you and your wife are just returning from a Friday evening out. When you look in your Read view mirror and get that sinking feeling your evening is about to be wrecked. You don’t know why the police would be stopping you and you have no idea how bad the situation is about to get.
You watch the officer leave his patrol car and walk to your window. Driver’s license, insurance card. It’s only a broken tail light. The officer tells you to remain in the car while he runs your information, and if you’ll promise to get it fixed you’ll be on your way in no time. You take a sigh of relief, he isn’t going to give you a ticket. Stay in the car, he’ll be right back.
A few minutes later the officer returns, asks you to step out of the car, put your hands on the hood and you are being handcuffed. Don’t talk. The officer informs you that the record shows you have a hit and run in a southern state and a warrant for your arrest. You protest that you’ve never even had a parking violation and absolutely have never been to Florida. But you are now in the back of the Police car on a Friday night. You know there’s no way to call a lawyer until Monday. Your wife is crying, she’ll follow you to jail. How much is bail? Will you really have to stay there until Monday? What will happen next?
If you think this can’t happen to you, think again. You have just become a victim of American’s number one crime… Identity theft. There were 10 million victims of Identity theft in the US last year and the number is rising.
It happens all over the country, everyday. Innocent Americans have their identities stolen by thieves who use the identity of the victim in the commission of a crime. When the crime is detected, it often results in the innocent victim spending a night or several in jail, posting bail, enduring humiliation and discovering they have a criminal record they were unaware of until that fateful night when they were stopped for something as simple as a broken taillight.
Insult is added to the injury because you actually believe that once you contact an attorney, you will post bail and all this will be worked out. You will return home and be finished with this nightmare… in actuality your nightmare has just begun.
Once the theft is discovered nearly 20% of Identity theft victims also discover that on it has been 4 years since the criminal assumed your ID. During that time they have made purchases, used your social security number to gain employment, accrued traffic tickets and damaged both your credit and your character.
But the story is about to get really ugly. You will have a difficult time proving you are, who you are… and generally that will be done in a very expensive court of law. There will be lawyers to pay and an investigation, and most of this will need to be done in Florida where the incident took place.
The average household spent an average of $3500 on restoring their identity, and for 23% of those it took more than 7 months until they were made whole again. For many, complete restoration never happened. The amazing statistic is that under 10% of America’s carry Identity Theft Protection… until after their identity was stolen.
Even if you are eventually able to clear your good name, that job you were hoping for is long gone, your professional life suffers and your relationships are strained. The home you were about to purchase is forgotten and life is in a holding pattern until you are proven the victim rather than the perpetrator. You will also find that law enforcement is slow to be concerned over Identity Theft. You will be offended at their mention of a victimless crime, after all if was you , the real you, who sat in a jail cell over the weekend. It was you who spent $3500 and 600 hours to restore your identity .
As you ride to the police station, handcuffed, scared and humiliated you don’t know it yet, but you will soon become familiar with what many already know… this is a crime no one is ever caught or prosecuted on. This is Identity Theft, America’s Number One crime.
The first time you realize how serious it was when someone steels your identity to commit a crime, is as you hear the jail door slam behind you.
