All it Took Was a Birthday

Ten years ago my identity theft nightmare began. I received a telephone call from a government office a few counties away from where I lived informing me that my driver’s license was being revoked due to my drug addiction and criminal record. Horrified, I immediately began asking questions since I had neither a drug problem nor a criminal record. 

It turned out that a former schoolmate had been arrested multiple times and had simply given my name and birth date to authorities in place of his own. They never fingerprinted him or asked for his social security number. So, with each arrest and conviction my rap sheet grew longer and longer—all without me even knowing about it. 

After going rounds with several different branches of the government in the county where my former classmate lived, I finally received a letter clearing my name. The letter also went in my police file and my glove box, in case I was ever pulled over for a simple traffic violation. At that point, I assumed my nightmare was over. But it wasn’t.

One year later, my employer received notification that my wages needed to be garnished due to further convictions and unpaid fees associated with them. In earnest I tried to plead with those in my Human Resources department, but they (just like everyone else I had dealt with) didn’t believe me. So, once again, I had to begin the process of dealing with government officials in order to get my name cleared (and to be paid for an honest day’s work). Eventually that incident was cleared up and my wages were restored to me.

However, that still wasn’t the end of my nightmare. Over the last ten years I have had my wages garnished an additional five times and I was turned down for a volunteer program with my local police department due to my “prior convictions”. In the last year alone, clearing my name has cost me over $1,000 and countless hours of time. 

When people hear about identity theft, they tend to think of credit card fraud and not what’s happening to me. I cannot believe how easy it was for my former classmate to steal my good name and use it as his own. None of this would have happened if the police would have fingerprinted him upon his arrest—or even asked him to verify his social security number. 

Because there is no national database that helps keep a record of identity theft victims and those who stole their identities, my problem keeps following me from county to county as the letters clearing my name aren’t nationally accessible although the convictions in my name are. 

The time, money, stress and embarrassment that having my identity stolen have cost me are remarkable. Yet, the man who stole (and continues to steal) my identity isn’t locked up, hasn’t served any time for this crime and can continue to commit this crime against me for the rest of his life. Identity theft may be the fastest growing crime in America, but currently law enforcement officials aren’t doing anything to prevent the crime from growing even more. 

If I’ve learned anything from all of this, it’s that it’s my job—and my job alone—to protect my own identity. It’s a sad world when the only thing someone has to do in order to commit a crime against you is hear someone else wish you a happy birthday.