Karen Lodrick’s identity had been stolen. Having her identity, the thief opened credit cards in Karen’s name so she could scam thousands of dollars more. As the credit cards were under her name, the creditors for the thief transactions pursued Karen. Karen decided to close her accounts, however, the criminal crack opens the new ones she had opened and drained those too. Unfortunately, the banks and police could do nothing to salvage the situation.
Using her identity, the thief dipped into her accounts like they were her own. The thief had used Karen’s house phone to order the debit card. It seems that, the thief had stolen two debit cards envelopes and two that provided the debit cards PINs envelopes from Karen’s mailbox. Within a few days, her bank account had been emptied and her life was reeling out of control. With no money, she could not pay her bills, rent and even her daily necessities.
Hopefully, the bank called and told her that they have the surveillance video of the thief. There was a big dark hair woman in a suede coat and a designer sunglass at an ATM in that video.
Meanwhile, the thief took her identity card for granted. The thief used her Social Security number and other information to obtain a counterfeit driver’s licence with the thief’s picture and Karen’s licence number. With that and her Social Security number, the thief is able to reopened accounts that Karen had closed. Karen placed fraud alerts with the credit reporting agencies, but to no avail. The thief continued to open more accounts in Karen’s name. The whole cycle was never-ending and she was at wit’s end.
Strangely, Karen’s bank informed her that she had left her driver’s licence at a branch on Market and Church streets, which she had never been there before and that her real driver’s licence is in wallet.
The next day, Karen waited at Starbucks for the bank on Market Street to open. While waiting, she saw a large woman in jeans and Gucci glasses, carrying a brown suede coat and a Prada purse at Starbucks, who look likes the woman in the surveillance video taken at an ATM. Karen decided to call the police and continue watching her. She thought that that woman must have came to retrieve back the licence.
The large woman sitting at a corner kept stealing glances at Karen and is looking nervous. She got up and out of the café. Karen decided to follow her with the hope of ending her bad dreams. The chases began.
While the woman turned a corner, Karen phone rang. She believed that the woman called and wanted to check if Karen was on her tail. Karen called the police again while chasing the woman. The woman was turning back every now and then to look at Karen. At 158 centimetres, Karen Lodrick was small compared to the nearly 180-centimetre woman who stole her identity. The thief threw away her wallet and flagged down a taxi. Yet, Karen managed to stop her. She also managed to prevent the thief from getting up a bus. With determination, Karen Lodrick pursued the woman for half an hour. After losing her, Karen lost hope and stop chasing.
To everyone’s surprise, the woman was smoking between a car and a building. Maria Nelson, the identity thief’s real name, had at least 60 prior arrests and was indeed on probation. Although the thief was caught, Karen was still receiving phone service and items she did not purchase. She feared that her ID might have been sold on the black market.
After reading this article, I realise the importance of safekeeping my things. When it is misplaced the person who got hold of it, may misuse it. For example, Karen lost her identity card and Nelson went to empty her accounts and make many transactions using her credit cards. A leopard will never change its spots, how true this is as after getting at least sixty prior arrests, she still did not learn her lessons and went on to steal Karen’s identity. I think that she was wasting everyone’s time to track down the criminals. Although she managed to steal many identities, I think that she was a failure as each time she steals; she was caught in the end. She too, give way too much clues as when she went to retrieved back the forged identity card from the bank at Market Street, she was wearing almost the same clothes as when she went to withdraw the money the last time, causing Karen to recognised her. Since she is already rich by stealing Karen’s money, I think that she should wear a different clothing, to be less suspicious.
Even though the Starbucks café was big, Karen is observant enough and manages to spot Nelson at the café. I think that it is too coincidence that Karen is able to spot her identity thief after a few months her identity is lost. I sympathise with Karen for what she had gone through those few months, as she could not even afford to buy basic necessities, such as groceries, when her bank is being drained. I hope that people may learn a little lesson and not be a spendthrift as, when there is an emergency, there is at least some money saves aside to resolve the problem. I feel that Karen have a lot of courage as she is wanted to chase after the thief who stole her identity. At the same time, I think that she should not take the matter into her own hands as it can be quite dangerous if the thief carry any weapons by her side.
I thought that the banks and the police service were quite a disappointment as they took quite sometime to act quickly in response to the request made by Karen. Although the information provided by the passer-by is true, I think that Karen is right in not believing him, as he might be her accomplice. I think the purpose for throwing Nelson’s wallet into the trolley is to make Karen distracted and lost her, however, Karen did not stop and continue chasing her.
I think that Nelson take things for granted as after draining Karen’s account, she made a driver’s licence with her licence number. I hope that she would turn over a new leaf and earn money with her own hands. I think that the ending is ironic and that Nelson is silly as she could hide in one corner and smoke calmly when she knew that Karen is still finding her. As what Karen has says, she should have kept running. I hope that people should think carefully before doing things that might hurt people, such as putting themselves into their shoes, so that both parties will not be hurt.
Done by: Goh Guan Hui (4)
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