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When it is Family!
By karen | December 22, 2007
Identity theft is a hard thing to deal with, but it is even harder when it is a family member that does it to you. My brother and I had our identities stolen by our younger brother and there wasn’t much that was done about it by anyone. not even the police would get involved because they look at it more as a domestic problem then they do a crime, because not many families want to prosecute a family member. That wasn’t the case where we stood, but it didn’t matter. Things got so bad that we had to turn to Dr. Phil for help and even then nothing really happened. Anyway, here is our story, I hope that it helps someone and may assist even one of you into realizing that your perpetrator may be a family member.
It was first recognized by myself back in November of 2004 when I retired from the military, after 30 years of service to the United States Air Force. I went to have my electricity, cable TV and Internet and telephone turned on for the first time in my home town of Metairie, Louisiana when I was informed that I couldn’t have it turned on because I had a delinquent account from a year prior and needed to pay that bill first. I told them that it was impossible because I had been in Iraq fighting in the war against terrorism and that the bill wasn’t mine. Well because it was my social security number that was used, they said I would have to file charges against the person that did it before I didn’t have to pay for it. Even with a statement from my older brother and the government, I still ended up paying that bill before it was turned on at my new condo.
That was just the beginning. A few Weeks later, I was pulled over because there was a warrant for my not appearing in traffic court for speeding in excess of 100 mph. I was arrested and taken in front of the judge. The police officer that originally wrote the ticket and arrested the person that was suppose to be me was called in and he asked where the person was that he had given the ticket was. When I was pointed out, he said that I wasn’t the right person, they courts finally believed me and that I was in Iraq at the time the ticket had been written. This was the 4th time that someone had used my identity and I was facing the consequences once more. This time my personal reputation was on the line. I still had no idea at that time who could possibly be doing this.
About a month later, I had my phone and lights turned off with in a couple of days from each other and I was facing having to pay for another location as well as my own when the electric company called me and told me that I owed over $500.00 for my other house and that I had to pay that bill before I could have my lights turned on again. I told them I didn’t live at the other address and never had and that I wasn’t responsible for the bill. Well, again they said that I owed it because my social security number was used. Never the less, they did turn my electricity back on at my condo, but not at the other address, which was fine to me. I decided to drive by the other address to see if I knew who lived there. When I passed by the house, I was floored. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I saw my younger brother by the power meter on the house, turning the electricity back on illegally. Not wanting him to know I knew about him, I drove away without a confrontation.
When I got home, I called my older brother and told him what I found out. He suggested that I call the electric company, the cable company and the phone company and make sure that there were no other accounts in my name. I was horrified when I found out that there was, at all 3. I informed them that it was my little brother doing this and that I did not authorize any of the accounts. That is when the real trouble started. They went and disconnected all the accounts and cancelled them, making it impossible for him to reopen them in my name. I called the police and was told that it happens all the time and that it was considered a “Domestic” problem. They gave me a item number, but nothing was ever done about it.
Not long from then hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area and caused us all to evacuate. While I went to Houston, TX and my older brother went to Lafayette, LA, my little brother went to Bossier City, LA and started all over again. This time against my older brother. But due to what had happened to me, he had put a credit watch on his credit bureau and was notified about several “NEW” accounts that were opened in his name. Again I was notified that an attempt to use my name and credit to purchase a Harley Davidson motorcycle. When he couldn’t use mine, he tried my brothers, and again was denied. My brother then discovered that there was a warrant for his arrest as well, in New Orleans, for failure to appear.
Since there was nothing being done to help us, and it was going to cost my brother thousands of dollars to fix this problem, I contacted the Dr, Phil show and was picked to appear. We confronted my little brother on the show and he made all kinds of worthless promises to resolve the problem. Dr Phil even paid for an Attorney to help us. But before any of this could be corrected, my little brother died from an overdose and we are still face with cleaning up our credit and criminal records. I will say thanks to Dr. Phil that we don’t have to pay for it, except with our time. But even that is expensive.
So I say this to all of you, don’t think that it can’t be someone close to you that has stolen your ID cause it very well may be someone as close as your family .
That is the short of my story, if I can help anyone recover their ID I will be glad to help. I am now a licensed Private Investigator now and will do what I can to help.
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