Why Aren’t Identity Thieves Arrested?
Someone asked a wonderful question of me the other day: “why don’t the police arrest people who steal your identity?”. It is a question I’ve never been asked before (which is odd, now that I think about it), but I’ve spend much time researching and pondering.
It comes down to three factors:
- Lack of Resources. When my identity was stolen the first time (a woman used it to buy a second home in my name), I reported it to the local police department. Their response was that I was number 6532 on this list of fraud complaints and that they would never get around to looking into the case. I knew the woman’s name, address and phone number, but law enforcement didn’t have the resources to investigate or prosecute the crime. And I didn’t have the resources to go after her legally. So it went untouched.
