About A Lady Named Karen Lodrick

If you were a VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? I read an article titled "To Catch an Identity Thief" and it got me thinking what people would do if this happened to them. After reading this post, ask yourself if you were a victim of identity theft like the lady mentioned below, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? The article was about a lady named Karen Lodrick and her life was a living hell after becoming a victim of identity theft. Because of our business I hear a lot of people say stupid things like "they can have my identity." REALLY? This has to be one of the dumbest statements because they don't truly understand how devastating being a victim of this crime can be to them and their families. Karen ordered a latte at Starbucks while waiting nervously for the bank on San Francisco's Market Street to open. She had been anxious and distracted of late but couldn't help noticing the scruffy looking pair standing next to her: a tall man wearing a navy baseball jacket and a large woman in jeans and Gucci glasses, carrying a brown suede coat and a Prada wallet. The woman looked vaguely familiar. That coat. A cold tingle of fear ran through Karen as she took it all in. The distinctive faux-fur trim along its edges looked as unkempt as the woman who held it. And then BINGO she knew. Karen's ID had been stolen five months before. Her bank account had been emptied, and her life sent reeling out of control. The coat she was looking at was the same one she'd seen in the bank surveillance tape, worn by the woman who'd stolen Karen's ID. The day before, Karen's bank had called after closing hours to tell her that she'd left her driver's license, but Karen had never been to that branch. And her real driver's license was still in her wallet. The two suspects were leaving the coffee shop so Karen decided to follow them while calling 911. The two separated, but Karen followed the women. She feared that if she didn't act, the identity thief would disappear, along with any hope of ending her bad dream. The chase was on. For the past five months, the thief used Karen's accounts like they were her own private accounts. She scammed thousands and opened credit cards in Karen's name. The banks couldn't do a thing. The police could do nothing. Creditors demanded payment from Karen and when she closed those accounts, the thieves would open new ones and drain those too. Following the woman Karen's phone rang. "Unknown Caller." Karen looked up the street and saw that the woman had her cell phone out. She was checking to see if the real Karen was following her, but Karen thought, where were the police? Karen again called 911 as the woman kept her distance looking over her shoulder at Karen every few seconds. This woman had been using Karen's identity for the last five months making her life a living hell. Karen remembers an odd voice mail from her bank waiting for her when she returned home to San Francisco from a family reunion in Michigan. Karen called back, and the service rep asked if she'd made any large withdrawals and mentioned one in the amount of 600. She assumed it was an error and asked the verification of the debit card number, but it wasn't her card. The bank representative insisted that someone had called from Karen's phone to order the new debit card. Karen finally convinced the bank rep that it wasn't hers, and he canceled it. What he failed to mention was that a second new debit card and it was still open. Karen knew the thief had stolen 600, but not what the bank rep showed her screen after screen of dozens of withdrawals. About 10,000 was gone. Karen's balance was zero plus overdraft deducted another 1,200 from savings to cover the shortfall after the thief had cleaned out the checking account. Karen filed a police report, closed her now-empty account and submitted a claim. With no money to cover checks, she couldn't pay her bills, her rent. She couldn't even buy groceries. Late fees were compounded by black marks on her credit report. And that was just the beginning. LET'S GO BACK TO ONE OF THE DUMBEST STATEMENTS THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD AGAIN BEING "THEY CAN HAVE MY IDENTITY." REALLY? Karen continued to chase the woman, keeping the 911 operator on the phone to let her know exactly where they were. I can just picture Karen chasing after this woman like an old black and white movie. Her heart must have been beating a mile a minute, but living in her current hell that this lady has made of her life was much worse. In her pursuit, she lost sight of the woman many times. Dodging through traffic, in stores, around parking lots and etc... Karen stayed on her tail somehow. As the identity thief passed a shopping cart, the women tossed something inside. Karen raced to the cart picked up what she dropped and she told the 911 operator. "It's a wallet. A Prada wallet." Karen wanted to look inside, but she had no time. "The woman finally stopped and asked Karen, "Why are you chasing me?" Karen now felt doubt and asked the woman to wait for the police. The women told Karen that she was on probation and would be arrested. Karen now had no doubt she'd found the right person. But she took off again and Karen kept after her. When Karen was first approached by her bank on the surveillance video they had. Karen signed an affidavit that she didn't know the woman, got a printout of her image, and that was it. In the meantime, the women reached deeper into Karen's life using Karen's Social Security number and other information to get a counterfeit driver's license, showing Karen's license number but the thief's picture. With the license and the Social Security number, she reopened accounts that Karen had closed years before. Karen placed fraud alerts with the credit reporting agencies and her bank. But that didn't stop the thief from opening more accounts in Karen's name. Putting fraud alerts on accounts now days is sort of like crying wolf. It's there, but not everyone pays attention to these alerts making you feel that you are protected when you are not. The thief got into her new bank account, and the whole cycle began again. She was at her wit's end. Now, with a phony driver's license, the thief was stalking her third checking account. Karen continued her chase, but when the suspect slipped in to a indoor parking garage, she lost her. She lost her and her life would continue to be a living hell. The police finally showed up, but it was too late, she was gone. At this point Karen zipped open the Prada wallet and found two of her bank statements, two debit cards used to clean out her accounts, one of her own paychecks, but FREAKED her out the most were small cards with her name, Social Security number, driver's license number and address on them. Karen told the officer what had occurred, feeling little hope that he'd find the woman now, but only moments later, the officer found her crouched between a car and the building, smoking a cigarette. "IDIOT! You should have kept running," Karen told her. EPILOGUE The arresting officer said the identity thief, Maria Nelson, had at least 60 prior arrests, was indeed on probation and was wanted in another jurisdiction for similar crimes. When Nelson came before a judge 44 days later, however, thanks to a plea deal with the prosecutor, she was sentenced to only time served plus probation. Meanwhile, Karen keeps getting billed for phone service and items at a department store that she didn't buy. And she fears her ID may have been sold on the black market, prolonging her nightmare. LET'S GO BACK TO ONE OF THE DUMBEST STATEMENTS THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD AGAIN BEING "THEY CAN HAVE MY IDENTITY." REALLY?