5 Brutal Cases of Stolen Identities

Identity theft is a serious problem and an even tougher challenge, as one of the only crimes where the victim is considered guilty until proven innocent. Having your identity stolen can be a nightmare. Though awareness concerning identity theft has increased over the years, too many still get tricked into divulging their confidential information.

There are many ways for someone to get hold of your identity: rummaging through your trash, posing as a trustworthy entity over the telephone, stealing your wallet…Internet phishing techniques such as web forgery, filter evasion, and link manipulation are also extremely common ways of acquiring people’s information and pose a significant threat.

Sometimes, it can take months, even years, before you find out you are a victim of identity theft. Following are some of the horrible stories of identity theft victims that illustrate the unfortunate reality that stealing an identity is actually easier than trying to reclaim it.

Case I

Malcolm Byrd, father of two children, suffered perhaps the worst case scenario of identity theft. Back in 1998, a man was arrested on drug charges and identified himself as Malcolm Byrd. Byrd just happened to find out he was the victim of identity theft when he read the next morning’s newspaper. He immediately went down to the police station and corrected the error.

A few months later, Byrd was pulled over for speeding. He found himself thrown to the pavement and handcuffed by policemen who believed they had the suspect who was wanted for drug dealing. Though the case was again cleared, Byrd wound up losing his part-time job as a nursing assistant for not having come forward about his criminal record. A few months later, he was laid-off from his full-time job and denied unemployment insurance, again, because of his criminal record.

But this was far from the end of his nightmare. His license got suspended by the DMV for failure to pay traffic fines, which was of course a crime committed by the same imposter. A few years later Byrd had lent his car to his niece. Police pulled her over asking where Malcolm Byrd was. They arrested him in his home and Byrd spent the next two days in jail.

Byrd’s case received enough publicity to keep his name safe, but everything he had to go through, was just brutal.

Case II

 The New York Times published an article in 2007 about a young man named Gabriel Jimenez. Jimenez had been sharing his identity with another person for half of his life. Jimenez had done some work as a child model when he was 11 years old. But when his mother attempted to file his taxes, she was surprised to discover that his taxes had already been filed. Though she contacted the I.R.S and the Social Security Administration, it took years before they found an illegal immigrant working under his number.

As Gabriel got older, his problems only got worse. When he went to college, he was denied phone service, gas, and electricity because apparently he already had accounts open. Then, at the age of 20, he was unable to set up a bank account because someone opened up an I.R.A. using his information. The same thing happened when he tried to obtain auto insurance.

Approximately five percent of reported identity theft involves children. Sadly, most of this fraud is committed by a parent or relative.

Case III

When Linda Foley began working in 1997 for Bari Nessel, (the publisher of a local women’s magazine in Mira Mesa, California), she thought it was just standard procedure to give her employer her Social Security Number and a copy of her driver’s license, since she was going to be driving as part of her work.

Though Foley believed she was merely complying with the law, you could imagine her astonishment when she realized that her employer took that information and used her identity to buy a new cell phone and apply for credit cards. And to make matters worse, she used those credit cards to purchase luxury items from the magazine’s own advertisers.

As Foley says in her Victim’s Statement: “Along with my identity she took my trust in people, especially employers. She stole my sense of security and financial safety, and she took my ability to get credit cards, loans, or purchase a major ticket item without going through hours of red tape, only to possibly have my purchase or credit request rejected.”

Nessel was charged with 31 criminal charges involving Foley and a dozen other victims. But Nessel’s scamming didn’t end there. In 2002 and 2003 she swindled thousands of dollars from a small Texas business, fabricating contracts and checks on her personal computer and eventually forcing them into bankruptcy. Though she was sentenced to state prison for three years and six months, most identity thieves are never caught or prosecuted.

Case IV

CBS published an article in 2005 about a Connecticut salesman named John Harrison. Harrison retired from the US Army in 1999, after twenty years of service. In July of 2001, Jerry Wayne Phillips stole his military ID from Fort Bragg, North Carolina with his name and Social Security Number and went on a spending spree.

"Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, JC Penny, two cars from Ford, a Harley, a Kawasaki motorcycle," Harrison stated, listing off the purchases made in his name. “About $265,000 in four months".  

Phillips used over 20 different addresses in 6 different states-- none of which were Harrison’s home state, nor were any of the addresses real. He created over 65 accounts, in Harrison’s name.

By December 11, 2001, Phillips was arrested. Though he did spend three years in prison, this could never make up for the troubles Harrison would continue to face for years after.

“I wouldn't be able to borrow a single dollar if my life depended on it because my credit is such a wreck” he says. One creditor even sued Harrison and won a judgment against him for $4, 200. When Harrison tried to open a checking account for his daughter, he found out that three credit bureaus had negative information on his Social Security Number, preventing him from opening a bank account.    
Harrison still can’t get $140,000 in debt cleared from his name, and creditors continue to call. The infuriating part of this story (aside from the obvious) is that on one of the forged checks, Phillips actually spelled Harrison’s name wrong! (Because John Harrison can be incredibly difficult to spell, right?) 

Apparently, you don’t need to be the sharpest tool in the shed to steal an identity, but you have to be more than perfect to stop it from happening.

Case V

Cynthia Berry, a pediatrician in Tulsa, Oklahoma is yet another victim of identity theft who has endured years of suffering. In 2000, she received a phone call from her bank saying that her children’s nanny had authorized a $23, 000 cash advance on her credit card to open an account. Berry knew instantly that something was up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” she told the bank representative. “I don’t have a nanny.”
With Berry’s birth certificate and Social Security Number, the identity thief was able to apply for 30 credit cards, bank loans, an SUV, a motorcycle, new clothes, and not one, not two, but nine cell phones!

How did the thief acquire Berry’s personal information? Like many identity theft cases, the thief was someone close to the victim. She was a nurse in the hospital Berry worked at.  

Though the identity thief was caught and sent to prison for 23 months, the reality is that she could still be anywhere and Berry would never know until the next phone call from a collection agency.

“It’s a helpless feeling” Berry says. “You can't get rid of it. It's everywhere. It never goes away."
It seems that even if a criminal does get put behind bars for identity theft, the victim is always the one left picking up the pieces.