Announcer: Lily’s wallet was stolen at a restaurant. The thief used her personal information to open credit cards in her name. But she had no idea she was the victim of identity theft. Then one day, she was home working on her computer when she got a call from a department store. In this story, Lily describes what happened next.
Lily: So, I was at the computer and the phone rang, I got this phone call, and she said, “Well, we have here that you’ve bought a diamond ring, so I’m just confirming the purchase because it’s quite a bit of money.” And I said, “Well, what is it?” And she said, “It’s a $5,000 diamond ring.” And I said, “No, I haven’t left the house today, so I wouldn’t have bought a diamond ring, and anyway, I don’t go to that store, I don’t go to your store anymore!” And so, she said, “Well, somebody who has your name has purchased a diamond ring for $5,000!’ And I said, “Five thousand dollars! A diamond ring! Well, that’s not me. I didn’t buy it, and I don’t authorize the purchase of this diamond ring, OK? So, we have a problem!
And she said, “We don’t have a problem; I think, I hate to tell you this, you have a problem!” And I said, “What are you talking about?” She said, “I hate to break the news to you, but I think that you have been a victim of identity theft!’ And I said, ‘A victim of what?” And she said, “Identity theft!” And she said, “Well, when you get this bill … “And I said, “Excuse me? I’m going to get a bill for this?” She says, “Oh, yes. When you get the bill, you need to file a complaint!” And I said, “Oh, boy?”
So, I did that, I filed the complaint. And then, it just went from bad to worse.
On Monday, I got home from work and I checked my mail, and there was a bill from another department store and another department store. On Tuesday, there were two more bills from two other department stores. On Wednesday, there were three bills from three consumer electronics stores. On Thursday, there were four bills from a jewelry store, a clothing store, another department store … By Friday, I had accumulated close to 38 or 39 bills. And I was up to probably close to $30,000 worth of charges, if not more. So, by the end of the week, I was feeling totally helpless. And, like, a total victim. What do I do now? I have $30,000 worth of credit card bills in my name, with my address, and I felt really exposed. Somebody knows who I am, where I live, what my phone number is, and I’m helpless to stop this.
So, what did I do? Every night, I had to deal with these bills. And what you have to do, is you have to make copies of the police report, etcetera, that, you know, my wallet was stolen. You have to describe in detail what they had purchased, and you have to write a letter to every single one of these stores that charged me, explaining what had happened. And you hope that they will not keep the charges there for you. It took about, I would say, close to four months before the whole thing died away, and just a lot of time and a lot of worry. I worried a lot.
And the paranoia hasn’t left, I mean, I’m still really conscious and nervous about receipts I have. I always rip them up into many tiny little pieces. And, the other thing that is really scary is how easy it is to open up credit cards. Shocking! You can go into any store, and you can just give them your name, your address, you don’t need any proof of identification, and you can open up a credit card at that particular store. They don’t really check who you are. How many clerks really look at the back of your credit card and check your signature? Not many.
There’s all sorts of ways that your identity can be stolen. So, I think everybody should be paranoid.
