There’s a common misconception that identity contamination (someone else using your SSN under a different name) is a victimless crime. Unfortunately, as Lindsey discovered, that is not true. As I mentioned earlier, suffering from identity contamination can be just as painful and difficult to recover from as traditional identity theft.

Below is a snippet from a conversation I recently had with Julie Fergerson, our VP of Emerging Technologies which highlights the problem.

“As I talk about this problem with other Moms, the first question is always, ‘what does it mean that their kid is a victim of identity theft?’ It means the child will not be able to use his credit when he needs it for things as important as college loans, first apartments or even a first job. As part of my research, I met Lindsey, a college student at Texas State, who is living this problem. When she applied for her first internship competing against 400 other candidates, she was thrilled when she got the job and received the company welcome gift. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, she received a letter rescinding her job offer – she was told she was not hireable because someone else was using her social security number. After what she calls ‘a full time job’ of working to clear her name for six months, she was able to restore her identity and get the job.”

Debix has also identified several other outstanding issues with Lindsey’s identity and is getting them cleared up as you read this.

To hear it in Lindsey’s own words, check out the above video.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm by mortman and is filed under adult victims, child victims, video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.