Rocxana Quintana knew she qualified for public assistance. She was unemployed and had no money in the bank when she met with her caseworker at the Florida Department of Children Families. Imagine her surprise when the state employee said she was denied those benefits because she was employed, had a bank account with $500 in it and a utility account with Florida Power and Light.
Further investigation revealed that, according to the DCF background check, Quintana worked at the Fort Myers-Naples Dog Track. A call to the dog track revealed that, sure enough, there was an employee there using her complete name, birth date and Social Security number.
That’s when Quintana called the Lee County Sheriff’s Department and reported her identity theft.
Sheriff’s detectives arrested the identity thief December 16 at the dog track.
She said her real name is Stella Santiago. She confessed that she had been using Quintana’s identity since April 2008 and said she paid someone else $600 for all of Quintana’s personal information.
How much money would you say your identity is worth? It’s a hard thing to put a price on, unless you become a victim of identity theft and your personal information is bought and sold. In that case you might be able to put an exact monetary value on your name, date of birth and Social Security number—everything an identity thief needs to get a job, utilities and credit.
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4 Comments
That’s a shame. Looks like protecting your identity is very important. It’s not just for people who shop online, like I thought.
No, unfortunately many who are affected are not shopping online when their identity is stolen. Many companies are being “hacked” and this provides thousands of identities to thieves.
Most people make the same mistake, Lisa. Internet usage and hackers are actually responsible for a small percentage of ID theft incidents. Lost and stolen wallets, and stolen mail are the sources for most identity theft.
I wonder what would have happened if Quintana hadn’t done all the legwork herself. TWICE I’ve had my credit cards highjacked and the police didn’t do anything about it. They were apologetic, but said they were too busy and had too many ID theft complaints to follow up unless it involved A LOT of money. A couple grand IS a lot of money to me!