5 ms·

You mentioned the burden of proof being on the victim of identity theft. Is that applicable to anything besides ones credit report? If creditors want to get a

You mentioned the burden of proof being on the victim of identity theft. Is that applicable to anything besides ones credit report? If creditors want to get a judgement to garnish wages or seize assets they have to go to court. I wonder if the burden of proof is any different there, or if the parent's defence (everybody has a copy of my identification!) could work at that point?

lazide 5y ago
The damage of identify theft is the damaged credit report, and the fact you now have to explain to every entity you do business with what happened - and hope they believe you. Many won't because it isn't worth the risk to them. Garnished wages are pretty rare from what I've heard, and yes it rarely gets to that point. It's still a nightmare for many people with real world consequences if it happens to you.
- mikem170 5y ago
  I understand the impact a problem on a credit report can have for most people. Over the years I've been trying to minimize my dependence on credit reports. It's been frozen for most of a couple decades, and I'd like to keep it that way. I've paid cash for vehicles, use secured credit cards, put down a deposit for my utility service, have a pay as you go phone, rent from people I know, and hope to remain self-employed, or work for people who know me enough to know that I can be trusted. I'd rather not deal with BigCorp. I realize that not everyone wants to or can do these things. But that left me wondering about what would happen in a trial to get a judgement if someone was able to fraudulently open a line of credit in my name. I'm hoping that a judge would require more than a forged signature to seize my wages/assets. Personally this is what I worry about, not so much my credit report.
  - lazide 5y ago
    It has happened, it is rare though. Also know of a few cases of folks selling peoples houses out from under them by fooling the title company when they were on a long vacation. Realistically, most thieves are far too lazy, and it’s real (and risky) work doing that compared to doing a bunch of credit card fraud.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  Explaining it to everyone is not how you are supposed to handle identity theft. You need to file a police report and send a copy to the credit reporting companies with enough specifics to indicate which entries are not yours.

lazide 5y ago

The damage of identify theft is the damaged credit report, and the fact you now have to explain to every entity you do business with what happened - and hope they believe you. Many won't because it isn't worth the risk to them. Garnished wages are pretty rare from what I've heard, and yes it rarely gets to that point. It's still a nightmare for many people with real world consequences if it happens to you.

mikem170 5y ago
I understand the impact a problem on a credit report can have for most people. Over the years I've been trying to minimize my dependence on credit reports. It's been frozen for most of a couple decades, and I'd like to keep it that way. I've paid cash for vehicles, use secured credit cards, put down a deposit for my utility service, have a pay as you go phone, rent from people I know, and hope to remain self-employed, or work for people who know me enough to know that I can be trusted. I'd rather not deal with BigCorp. I realize that not everyone wants to or can do these things. But that left me wondering about what would happen in a trial to get a judgement if someone was able to fraudulently open a line of credit in my name. I'm hoping that a judge would require more than a forged signature to seize my wages/assets. Personally this is what I worry about, not so much my credit report.
- lazide 5y ago
  It has happened, it is rare though. Also know of a few cases of folks selling peoples houses out from under them by fooling the title company when they were on a long vacation. Realistically, most thieves are far too lazy, and it’s real (and risky) work doing that compared to doing a bunch of credit card fraud.
jjeaff 5y ago
Explaining it to everyone is not how you are supposed to handle identity theft. You need to file a police report and send a copy to the credit reporting companies with enough specifics to indicate which entries are not yours.