Sometimes we need a reminder as to the costs of ID theft to the victims. I’m referring to the real victims – not the companies or agencies that were the custodians of our information but failed to protect it adequately, but those whose lives are disrupted in long-lasting ways because there identity information has been misused.
Jeanne Price has done a masterful job of relaying three individuals’ stories:
Like the day two planes hit the World Trade Center in NYC, you always remember where you were when you first learned you’d become a victim of identity theft. Zane Purdy was on the job at General Dynamics in Montgomery, Alabama where he managed a team of engineers. Stephen Hershman was on a ballistic submarine submerged somewhere in the Pacific when he realized his identity was gone. Steve Echols had just arrived at his local police precinct to comply with a detective’s request for a meeting.
All three men are veterans. At one time, all three held jobs that demanded a high security clearance. While Hershman was able to salvage his reputation before a plunging credit score cost him that Top Secret rating, Echols and Purdy didn’t learn about challenges to their identities until considerable damage had occurred. Both men are still struggling to recover their livelihoods years later and one is now fighting back in federal court.
Read more about their cases idradar.com and the follow the links to more details on their stories.