Betrayal (Identity Theft)

Claudia stared into the darkness after she answered her phone and a stranger asked her how she was doing. The strange man thanked her for a wonderful evening and wanted to know if he could come to her apartment to spend the rest of the night with her.

            “Who are you and why are you calling me at this hour?” asked Claudia.  It was 2:00 a.m. and Claudia was sound asleep when he called, her calculus textbook fell on the floor when she answered her phone. She fell asleep with the book on her chest.

            “Are you playing hard to get? We spent the evening together. We ate dinner at the Ritz and then we went dancing and now you pretend to not know me. I don’t get it,” said the strange man.

            “Who are you?” asked Claudia.

            “My name is Jeremy.”

            “Jeremy? I don’t know anyone by that name and how did you get my phone number?” asked Claudia.

            “You gave it to me.”

            “I have been home all evening. I have not left the house.”

            “I can’t believe you are denying that you know me after the night we spent. Your name is Claudia Banks and I loved dancing with you and spending time with you. I thought you felt the same way about me.”

            “I am sorry to hurt your feelings but I have never met you before.” Claudia was shocked that he knew her name. She was not going to tell him that he got her name right.

            “You have the wrong number. Please do not call this number again.”

            Claudia was trying to maintain her composure. She did not know how this man knew her name and phone number.

            She hung up on Jeremy and lay awake wondering how a strange man could have known her name and phone number. She opened her purse to see if the contents were still in place. She had her driver’s license and she saw all other important things were still in her purse.  Nothing was missing. She got up and checked the locks on her apartment door and checked the windows. They were all locked.

            Claudia went back to bed and tried to fall asleep. Finally, an hour later she dozed off.

            Claudia went to work the next morning. To make ends meet, she had to work as a phlebotomist at a local hospital while she was going to school. She was working towards becoming a medical technologist. Drawing blood would help her get her foot in the door at the hospital she wished to be employed by when she graduated. It was a busy job and she usually ended up working in the Emergency Room.  She enjoyed working with the patients and staff.

            She looked around at all the staff when she was eating her lunch in the breakroom wondering if any of the staff could have pulled the prank of pretending to be her the night before. Everything seemed to be normal.

            “You look tired.  You didn’t sleep well? Were you up too late studying? I know it’s finals week.” inquired Marissa, another phlebotomist.

            “A strange man called me in the middle of the night and said he knew me and spent the night with me. He told me a person by my name gave him my phone number.  He used my exact name, first and last.”

            “It sounds like someone is playing a mean trick on you. Don’t they realize how busy you are with going to school and working.”

            “It’s creepy,” responded Claudia.

            “I will keep my eyes open to see if anyone is acting suspicious,” said Marissa.

            Claudia was called to one of the rooms to draw a patient who just arrived at the hospital. The person was in a car accident.  She had to draw the patient’s blood so blood could be ordered for a transfusion. Claudia was taken aback because the person looked like a friend she knew in high school. She looked at the emitting paperwork and discovered that it was her friend. She was devastated and hid in the closet where cleaning supplies were stored to hide her tears from everyone.

            “George, are you studying for the calculus exam tonight?” asked Claudia. She called George because she wanted some company.  She was afraid to be alone.

            “Yes, do you want me to come over?” asked George.

            “Could I spend the night at your house tonight?” asked Claudia.

            “That would be fine. Is there something wrong? I can tell by your voice that you seem a little shaken,” said George.

George and Claudia have been friends for at least five years. They started dating when they were in high school but decided they preferred to be friends and not have a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. The chemistry was not there but they still had a lot in common. 

“I received an unsettling phone call last night.”

“You don’t have to tell me anymore. Come right over and pack an overnight bag my friend. I will keep you safe tonight.”

Claudia was happy that George was her friend. They have been there for each on so many occasions.

            They ordered pizza and drank diet sodas until their eyes were too droopy and they could not think anymore.

            “I think we know this stuff well enough,” said Claudia.

            “I can’t study anymore. I just want to sleep.”

            They curled up together in the same bed and fell fast asleep within minutes.

            “We received a phone call from the university. A Claudia Banks, fitting your description, has been selling illegal drugs,” said Claudia’s supervisor, Sue.

            “I have not been doing anything illegal,” stammered Claudia.

            “The person looks like you and has given the police a driver’s license with your name and address on it.”

            Claudia sat down heavily on the chair in front of Sue’s desk. “My identity has been stolen.”

            “It appears that’s the case,” said Sue.

            “This can be really serious,” said Claudia.

            “We like you, Claudia and want to help you.  You have been an excellent employee,” said Sue.

            “What do you suggest I do?” asked Claudia. Claudia looked pale and distraught.

            Claudia added, “I received a phone call from a strange man the other night and he said he spent the evening with me and had a good time. I was home studying all night by myself. I stayed at a friend’s home last night because I was afraid to be alone.”

            “I suggest you stay at your friend’s home until this problem is fixed,” said Sue.

           

********

Henry was always at the top of his game when it came to his vacations with his wife, Samantha.   He ordered the best wine from room service to go along with shrimp cocktails.  The unsuspecting George DeLong was none the wiser that he was footing the bill for all the luxurious extravagances. Samantha met Henry a couple of months ago and they fell madly in love. He has treated her to a diamond ring and other expensive jewelry. He’s taken her shopping for clothes at top of the line establishments. Samantha felt like she finally met the sugar daddy of her dreams. All these luxurious accommodations had been paid for by stolen credit and debit cards.

His home was filled with expensive furniture and he drove a Mercedes. Samantha thought he was off to his job as a hedge fund broker but what he was actually doing was stealing from other unsuspecting victims. He embezzled from the company he quit working for a few years ago. He managed their accounts and while doing so he established bogus companies that only he had access to. He left the company in good terms after draining the phony accounts. He’s been living on the stolen money he embezzled for five years along with all the stolen credit and debit cards.

Henry decided to investigate and find out who George DeLong is and possibly use his name to set up a GOFUNDME account to add to his savings account. He did a little research and learned that George was an upstanding person who worked for an accounting firm in southern California. Exploring further he discovered that George had a penchant for animals. He lost a dog to a rare form of cancer. The wheels in Henry’s head were spinning wildly.  He thought he could set up an account to fund research for a cure for the rare cancer George’s dog died from.

“What are you doing, hon?” asked Samantha.

“Before I met you, I had a dog that died from a rare form of cancer and I was thinking I may create a GOFUNDME account to help with finding a cure for the cancer. I was devastated.”

“Aw, that’s too bad. Good luck,” said Samantha. She hugged Henry and then left his study.

Henry was going to use George’s name, but Samantha would not be the wiser. He went into the sight to set up an account. He was surprised about how much information they were requiring. Henry felt fortunate that he had George’s Social Security number.

            Henry set up a bank account for the money to be funneled to. That was the easy part of the entire transaction. He used George’s Social Security number and credit card number for the bank account.

            Meanwhile, George noticed charges on his credit card statement that he did not make.  He contacted the credit card company.

            “I have never traveled to Reno, Nevada,” George told the person at the credit card company.

            Shirley from customer service asked, “Are you sure? You signed for the charges.”

            “I have not left the state. You can contact my supervisor to verify,” said George. George’s home office was in Los Angeles.  George was starting to become impatient. He asked if his card number could be changed immediately. Shirley agreed to change his card number and told George that his new card would arrive in the mail in approximately two weeks. George thanked Shirley and cut up his old card.

            “Can you remove the charges from my card balance?” asked George.

            “We will contact your supervisor and once that is done and things prove to be on the up and up, we will remove the charges.”

            “How can I prevent someone from hacking into my account and doing this to me again?” asked George.

            “People who steal this information are hard to track. I would pay attention to your statements and make sure your card is not being used by someone else. I wish I could give you more reassurance.”

            “Thanks for your help,” said George. He knew he had to rely on his debit card until his credit card situation was straightened out.

           

            “Why are you handcuffing me?” asked George.

            “You set up a phony GOFUNDME account and we tracked the account back to you. There is no program set up that matches where the funds were going.”

            “I don’t understand. I never set up a GOFUNDME account,” stammered George.

            “Is this your Social Security number?” asked Jared, the officer.

            “Yes, it is,” replied a stunned George.

            “First someone stole my credit card information and now this. What is going on?” asked George. He struggled to straighten his posture after his arms were cuffed.

            “Your credit card was stolen?” asked Pete, the other officer.

            “Yes, I am waiting for a new credit card after the number was changed,” replied George.

            “We are going down to the station to check this out further. Your identity may have been stolen,” said Pete, the other officer.

            “Uncuff him. I think he’s a victim,” said Pete.

            “We have checked your bank statements and looked into your credit card situation and it looks like someone was having fun in Reno with your card. The same person probably set up a GOFUNDME account under your name,” said Jared.

            “We have our computer techs looking into who may have set up the account. They will track the IP address to see if they can find a lead to who may have stolen your identity,” said Pete. Henry was on the top of his game concerning hacking into accounts and stealing identities. He usually moved on before he was caught in the act. Henry was never caught.

            “Henry, if you don’t stop spoiling me, I am never going to leave you. You treat me so well. I love the gifts and places you take me too,” said Samantha. She was sunbathing on a beach in Hawaii.  Henry discovered that George’s credit number was changed. As soon as he learned about the credit card number being changed, he drained the GOFUNDME account and left for Hawaii with Samantha.  Unsuspecting good citizens, who wanted to find a cure for the rare cancer in dogs, donated over two hundred thousand dollars. Henry felt that was enough to pad his personal bank account and travel to Hawaii.

           

********

Dark forces prepared for a large hack upon the register system of a Michael’s store, a craft store.  Many people rely on debit and credit cards to pay for things. It was no different with the women who shopped for their craft supplies. The criminals picked a busy Saturday to hack the store’s system, a day when many women were going to be shopping.

Mildred picked up her sister, Cynthia, and they headed to Michaels. The holidays were approaching and they learned how to make braided wreaths and wreaths made from Christmas ornaments. They were elated to hear that some of the people in their social circle were very interested in receiving some of their homemade crafts. Mildred had won awards at county fairs for her homemade crafts.

            “Hi, Sue. What are you shopping for?” asked Mildred.  Sue and Mildred became friends when they participated in a knitting group that meets weekly at a local coffee shop.

            “I finished the top to a quilt and I need to get the backing and fiber liner,” replied Sue.

            “I will stop by to see your quilt after you finish it,” said Mildred. Mildred often became inspired when she saw her friends’ finished craft projects.

            “I will call you when I finish it. We can catch up over a cup of coffee.”

            “I look forward to having coffee with you.”

            Cynthia called out to Mildred. “Mildred come check out this fabric.” Cynthia held up some colorful fabric with hollies and Christmas trees on it. She pointed to the other fabrics with Christmas prints on them. She had a glint in her eye. Mildred started picking up some of the bolts of fabric and had a glint in her eye, also.

            Mildred and Cynthia brought their selected bolts of fabric to the cutting table.

            The lines were long in front of each register.  Elated customers buying craft supplies to make their Christmas crafts. Women chatted and talked about holiday plans. The store was decorated in festive holiday decorations and many brightly colored holiday supplies lined the aisles which matched the moods of the holiday shoppers.

            “We have been hacked. Everyone who shopped at our store last Saturday and used debit and credit cards have had their account numbers stolen. The hackers probably picked up the four-digit codes associated with the debit cards, also. This is horrible.  We have to make this public. Those poor shoppers. I have just completely changed every account and the passwords associated with our register system. Future customers are protected. I don’t know if we will reach all the customers who shopped here last Saturday. That was one of our busiest days,” said Herald.

           

            “Did you see the article in the paper yesterday?” asked Mildred.

            “Yes, I did,” replied Cynthia.

            “I contacted my credit card company and had my number changed,” reported Mildred.

            “I contacted my bank to have my account information changed for my debit card. What a pain,” retorted Cynthia. Cynthia did not use a computer and she did not have a smart phone because she heard they could be used to spy on her and now her bank account was compromised by shopping for craft supplies. She decided she was going to start carrying more cash.

            “We hit the mother load the other day when we hacked the register system at that Michael’s Store. I sold a lot of the account information to our customers. They were happy to have new accounts to use. I made a killing,” said Ralph, a skilled hacker.

            “I would like to see if we could hack into Walmart’s system,” said Earnest.

            “We could make a killing if we figured out how to do that,” said Ralph.

********

           

Elenore and Gregory were about to get the surprise of their lives when Gregory applied for a new job after they moved from their hometown to another city. They were leaving behind a lot of unhappy memories. They were both born in raised in St. Mary. They lost their son in a car accident. He was killed by a drunk driver and he was their only child. Elenore and Gregory were looking to start fresh with new jobs and a new place to live. Gregory was a lawyer for a small law firm and Elenore was a Certified Public Accountant and worked for the same law firm, handling their accounting needs. Both had a nest egg saved up so they could take their time securing employment.

            “I want to talk to you, Gregory,” said Peter Hasley.

            “I’m all ears,” retorted Gregory.

            “Someone with your name, credentials and social security number works in St. Louis, Missouri.

            “What?” asked Gregory.

            “Are you trying to pull a fast one?” asked Peter.

            “What do you mean?” asked Gregory.

            “I repeat. Someone with your name, credentials and social security number works in St. Louis, Missouri.

            “That can’t be possible. I have never been to that city.” Gregory sat down hard on the chair he was standing next to when he answered the phone. His face was pale. He thought things like this only happened to other people.

            Elenore entered the room and when she saw her husband who looked like he just learned about the death of someone, she became very concerned. “What’s wrong?”

            Gregory motioned for her to sit down.

            “What can I do to fix this problem?” asked Gregory.

            “I don’t know what to say. Is there anyone who can vouch for who you say you are?”

            “We are new to this community. We really don’t know anyone.”

            “That’s too bad.

            “Can we have some people from the firm I worked at in St. Mary  verify who I am?”

            “You could get people to lie for you. I don’t know how to fix this.”

            “It looks like my hands are tied. I am going to have to go back to my hometown and have the police look into who has stolen my identity in St. Louis. This is too bad. I was really looking forward to working for your firm. We moved from our hometown because we lost our son a year ago and there were so many memories of him.  We wanted to start anew with a new life. I know that doesn’t sound good for us, but it’s the truth.”

            “Our firm will help you rectify this problem. You had an honest face and I was looking forward to working with you.”

            “Let’s start with fingerprints. My fingerprints are on file at the McGregor Law Firm and the court house in St. Mary. I am willing to have my fingerprints taken again and compare them to the ones held at St. Mary. My fingerprints have been on file with the two places I mentioned for at least 20 years. That should prove who I am.”

            “Good thinking. Why don’t you come in right now and we will collect your fingerprints?.”

           

            Leroy and Henrietta were happily bringing home large paychecks from the jobs they secured at a St. Louis law firm.  They were lounging on their sofa watching soap operas that they recorded when they were at work. Leroy barely graduated from a community college with a Criminal Justice two-year degree.  Henrietta did not attend a college and only possessed a high school education.  She took accounting and bookkeeping classes in high school and felt she was more than qualified to take on the role as a CPA for an accounting company. Leroy hasn’t won a case for the firm he was employed in the five years he was at the firm. Neither were good employees and both were going to be fired soon. Their high level of narcissism led them to believe they were at the top in their fields. They were surprised when two police officers were at their door asking them to come with them downtown.

            “We need to take your fingerprints,” said one of the officers.

            “Why?” asked Leroy, who was posing as Gregory Lefeile.

           

“Put your thumb print here,” said the officer as he pointed to the fingerprint sheet.

            Henrietta had to give her fingerprints, also.

            They were booked and locked up in the city jail, pending sentencing.

            “The authorities located the two culprits who were posing as us in St. Louis,” said Gregory to Peter. Gregory was sitting in Peter’s office.

            “I am so sorry about the mix up,” said Peter.

            “I am glad things worked out the way they did. People’s identities are stolen every day and I feel we were one of the lucky ones the way things ended up,” said Gregory.

            “Welcome to the firm,” said Peter as he extended his hand.

            “I am so glad to be here,” replied Gregory.

           

********

           

            The year was 2010 and my professional signature was used to request money from all my friends, family and business associates listed on my email account. The culprits sought money for an emergency and made it sound like I was stranded in another country. I was appalled and felt violated. Most people are unaware of having their identity stolen unless it hits them in the face like it did for me. How are these people able to hack into and take over our internet accounts? Snowden, when he revealed what the government national security program was up to, delineated how easy it was for the agency to spy on private citizens. Currently, busy bodies are hacking into personal facebook accounts. We live in a country where Russian operatives hacked into our social media accounts to sway a presidential election.

            I thought it was a good idea to list my professional accolades in a signature that was a part of all the emails I sent to my friend, family and business associates. I listed my LLC, and that I was an author and professor at a local college. Why wouldn’t anyone send me money if I was stranded in another country? How could they do that to me or anyone else? They violate our rights to privacy to seek money from the unsuspecting. My email account was compromised so a friend of mine offered to contact as many people as possible to let them know what happened to me. Many ways exist in which our social media accounts can be hacked into.

            How many people fell prey to these unscrupulous characters? Did anyone fall for the plea and send money to the accounts listed? My professional signature was stolen and used to coerce people I know to give the crooks money by hacking into my email account. For a while my world was turned upside down.  Meanwhile, the lives of the culprits do not change unless they realize a payday. I grew up during a time when none of this crazy stuff happened. My family had a party line and everyone who shared the line was respectful of others who were using the same line. Cellphones did not exist and some how we managed to get ahold of our friends. Technology has improved our lives in some ways and has been destructive in many other ways.

Identity theft was written about because it is performed by individuals who prey on others and they are definitely watchers. They watch and steal from unsuspecting victims. The culprits invade people’s privacy by researching who would give them the payoffs they seek.  Many are not caught due to many reasons. They usually excel at many forms of technology and can hack into social media systems. Self-serving motives serve as their motivation.

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Facts + Statistics: Identity Theft and Cybercrime

The scope of identity theft

According to 2018 Identity Fraud: Fraud Enters a New Era of Complexity from Javelin Strategy & Research, in 2017, there were 16.7 million victims of identity fraud, a record high that followed a previous record the year before. Criminals are engaging in complex identity fraud schemes that are leaving record numbers of victims in their wake. The amount stolen hit $16.8 billion last year as 30 percent of U.S. consumers were notified exposure to a data breach last year, an increase of 12 percent from 2016. For the first time, more Social Security numbers were exposed than credit card numbers.

Following the introduction of microchip equipped credit cards in 2015 in the United States, which make the cards difficult to counterfeit, criminals focused on new account fraud. New account fraud occurs when a thief opens a credit card or other financial account using a victim’s name and other stolen personal information. According to the Javelin study, account takeovers tripled in 2017 from 2016, and losses totaled $5.1 billion.

Identity theft and fraud complaints

The Consumer Sentinel Network, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), tracks consumer fraud and identity theft complaints that have been filed with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and private organizations. Of the 2.7 million identity theft and fraud reports received in 2017, 1.1 million were fraud-related, costing consumers almost $905 million. The median amount consumers paid in these cases was $429. Within the fraud category, imposter scams were the most reported and ranked first among the top 10 fraud categories identified by the FTC. They accounted for $328 million in losses. In 2017, 14 percent of all complaints were related to identity theft. Identity theft complaints were the third most reported to the FTC and had increased almost 70 percent from 2013 to 2015 but fell about 24 percent from 2015 to 2017. Credit card fraud was the most reported incident to the Consumer Sentinel Network, with 133,000 reports.

Source: https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-identity-theft-and-cybercrime