Yes, times are hard and everyone is feeling the pinch of our economic problems, even small children. Apparently, a 3-year old girl in North Carolina was being reported to the credit bureaus for not paying her utility bill. In October of this year, the child’s grandmother discovered that the un-paid bill was on her credit report. The authorities were able to track the account to a 44-year old man as the culprit. The man was arrested for identity theft and other charges. Who would have thought that a middle aged man could use a young girl’s identity to get utility services?

How about this one: In a community in Massachussetts, there has been an increase in the number of homes being broken into. Seventeen this year within a two month period as compared to 10 over the entire year prior. This same community has reported 25 cases of identity theft. Who would have thought that identity theft would hit small communities all at once?

Everyone from small children to Barack Obama are affected. Social security numbers, utility and telephone services, credit and debit cards, checking account numbers, the list goes on and on. There was a time when this crime was not heard of often, but who would have thought it would have become this prevalent?

If you don’t check your credit report regularly, please get a copy and carefully look at it. There is a lot that can be done to prevent the damage that this crime can cause and we need to help build protection for ourselves from identity thieves. Who would have thought?

This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 6:00 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.