There have been many cases of identity theft present in America right now; one of those is a story of a present co-worker of mine.
George (not his real name), is a young model who has always aspired to hit the big time.
Because of his will, he was then posting his pictures and some photos of himself in the net so as to invite viewers to take a look, and eventually be able to expand the popularity he is trying to gain.
Soon after posting his pictures and videos, together with the information that he needs to be contacted, he found out that another account was created under his name and also using the same content as of his.
The worst part is that he only knew it after that poser fooled a couple of managers and took away their money, the initial payment the net poser asks, without the job done.
He was then receiving messages that contain threats and painful words for his part because of something he never did.
Only then did he realize that he was a victim of identity theft.
This is one form in identity theft or the act of stealing other people's identity to use it for personal agenda, in this case, to get money from the managers of modeling agencies and of course, destroying the reputation of the victim.
This may actually be considered as a worse form since it is much like hitting two birds in one shot.
First shot: Money George is just starting, that means that he is still fresh and still getting the popularity he needs.
Because of that, he is an easy target for identity theft.
Few people still know him, making him easier to manipulate when it comes to information such as bank accounts.
Also, he can attract the managers of the modelling agencies and from them, asks money that the thief needs, fulfilling then the major goal of undergoing identity theft.
Second Shot: Personality George, after suffering such crime, was not easily able to cope up with it and still had to face people with distrust on their faces.
He never succeeded to penetrate the modelling industry because of the misconceptions and wrong information received by the agencies that hire good looking people like him.
Also, he was somehow excluded from the community he belongs because of the fear that those people will also fall on the same pit as the managers.
Since then, George filed a case against the unknown suspect and it was hardly moving until it reaches nothing but filing.
George learned his lesson well.
Let this serve as a lesson for us too.
There are thieves out there who will take every opportunity they have to steal our identity and manipulate all the information so as to benefit from our misery.
Identity theft must be stopped.
Identity theft should have never been there.
But now, fully stopping it may be too much to control.
So rather than contemplating on how to fully eliminate such, we should prepare ourselves with the basics to protect ourselves and from there, slowly, contribute to the decrease of cases here in America.