When Dante’s Inferno gets updated for the 21st century, the author needs to add identity theft as the 10th circle of hell. Think I’m exaggerating? Ask Jeremiah Mydland of Claremore, Oklahoma.
Since mid-February Mydland has spent his evenings after work writing and sending letters to the bill collectors who are after him for money owed on credit card accounts he didn’t open and bad checks he didn’t write. So far he’s written about a hundred.
On average, identity theft victims spend almost 160 hours–the equivalent of four weeks at a full-time job—trying to clean up the mess, according to “Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2007,” the most recent annual survey conducted by the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Still, things might be looking up since police arrested Matthew Brahm, who confessed to buying Mydland’s information and a driver’s license Mydland surrendered. Brahm used the driver’s and other information to write counterfeit checks and open the credit card accounts.
When police searched Brahm they found another person’s bank statement and yet another person’s address and credit card information as well as the last four digits of that victim’s Social Security number in Brahm’s back pocket. He was also had stolen mail with him.
Brahm isn’t new to the identity theft racket; he’s already been convicted 12 times for stealing identities and writing bogus checks. This most recent arrest may also lead to federal charges related to the stolen mail.
The police investigation isn’t over yet, though. They’re still trying to figure out how he came to have the driver’s license Mydland surrendered to a tag agency.
“At least they’ve got it and they’ve got him,” Mydland said. “At least some of it will stop.”
One Comment
nice one.