After reading his story on the CBSNews website, we had to relate this sad incident of identity theft. This is the story of John Harrision, a salesman from Connecticut. Harrison was victimized back in 2001 and when this story was released back in 2005, he still had a long way to go.  At that time, he had reportedly spent over 2,000 hours trying to clear his good name after having his identity stolen. “I had to come up with a filing system,” says Harrison of his efforts to clear his name. The thief made turned Harrison’s life upside down. “Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, JC Penny, two cars from Ford, a Harley, a Kawasaki motorcycle,” says Harrison, listing off the purchases made in his name. “About $265,000 in four months.” That’s right, only 4 months! The thief was caught and went to prison for three years for his crime. He even apologized to Harrison. However, that did not make things any easier for the victim. He was still being pursued by creditors for over $100,000 in debt that he never asked for.

Eric Gertler, an identity theft expert, says that Harrison’s experience reflects the unfairness of the whole system. “The problem with identity theft is that once you’re a victim you’re guilty until proven innocent,” says Gertler. “You need to go to the financial institution and prove to them that you’re not just some other deadbeat trying to get away with not paying your bills.”

Here is some helpful advice:
-check your credit report regularly;
-if you find that you have become a victim of identity theft, file a report with the police immediately;
-contact the 3 major credit bureaus and your creditors;
-keep records of all transactions made;
-you might need to hire an attorney to help

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 am and is filed under articles concerning identity theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.